Distortion world strikes back
by Shining4Charizard
Summary: Giratina is desiring for revenge. Not even Dialga and Palkia together could hold it back. The worlds destiny is in the hands of a human turned into a Charmander and a Vulpix. PMD2-based storyline. Reviews welcome!
1. The beginning of Team Blaze

**Distortion world strikes back!**

**Author'****s note: Okay, I'm currently revising the chapters and try to make this story even better, 'cuz I don't have any new ideas at the moment. I hope you all read this improved version!**

**Chapter 1**

**The beginning of Team Blaze**

An eerie darkness filled the distortion world. Here once lived a Pokémon that looked like a dragon with several ghost characteristics. It roared at times, which echoed throughout its world, as it was all alone in here.

This Pokémon's name was Giratina. It hated the real world, were all other Pokémon lived, because it was banished to this dimension by the ruler of all Pokémon, Arceus. Since that day, Giratina was filled with anger, hatred, frustration and the desire for revenge. His plan was to destroy the real world to show the inhabitants how bad an empty world was.

Giratina soared through his dimension, thinking of a way to punish the real world and Arceus for their behaviour towards him. He already tried to invade the real world, but was restrained and banished again by Dialga and Palkia, the rulers of time and space. Since then, Giratina became even angrier. His anger was so great, that even a Gyarados in an outrage would have looked like the friendliest Pokémon ever.

Dialga and Palkia were injured pretty badly by Giratina in their battle, so they decided to pick one being to save the world from destruction. And a human was this very being.

It was night at the coast of the continent Mystery Island. Here was a small town called Treasure Town, where many Pokémon lived. A storm caused many Pokémon to stay awake, even though they were ready to sleep.

So did Vulpix, a young female Fire-type Pokémon. She was all alone and did not have anyone to talk to. Additionally, she was a real coward. She was even afraid of a running leaf, if it surprised her. She never could bring herself to talk about her problem, however. She wished for a motivation, for someone, who could help her to build up courage.

Every time lightning crashed into the sea, she screamed out of fear and tried to hide herself under her self made blanked consisted of moss stuck together with an unknown mass of glue.

Vulpix lived in a rock cave on a cliff that had an opening in the front, so one could look out at the sea. The rock was called Sharpedo rock, because it was formed like a Sharpedo, a shark-like Pokémon with very sharp teeth and a very violent attitude.

At the next morning on the beach, Vulpix took a walk. It was a very nice beach, where Krabby often tended to be. They loved to stay on the beach in the sunshine. In the evening, they would blow bubbles in the air. It was a very beautiful and romantic sight.

Vulpix looked out at the sea and her eyes sparkled, so beautiful was the sight for her. Unfortunately, she didn't watch where she was going and tripped over something that lied in the sand.

"What was that?", she asked and shook the sand off her red-brown fur. She did not like, when her fur was dirty.

She looked at the place, where that being in question laid and jumped back in shock, when she noticed, that that being in the sand was a Charmander, a fire-type Pokémon like herself. It did not move an inch, so Vulpix assumed that the Pokémon was not quite alive.

Vulpix looked at the Charmander and said nothing. Her feet were trembling. On one hand, she was worried about the Charmander that did not do anything but lying there, on the other hand, she was afraid of what could happen, if she was to wake up the fire lizard.

"Maybe I should just try it", Vulpix thought to herself and touched the Charmander slightly with her paw. She quickly jumped back, but the Charmander did not react. She touched it again. Now, the Charmander let out a tired groan and stood up.

"Where… am I?", it asked. The tone of its voice gave away its gender. It was a boy.

"So, you did wake up at last", Vulpix said shyly. Charmander turned towards her and his mouth gaped open.

"How can it be?", he asked in shock. "A talking Pokémon! How in the world is that possible? I thought, Pokémon only could say their names!".

"Of course we can talk", Vulpix said and gave Charmander a bewildered look. "What kind of weird Pokémon are you?".

"I´m NOT a Pokémon!", the Charmander roared, as if Vulpix had just offended him, "I'm a human!".

"A human?", Vulpix tilted her head to the side and went around Charmander, "but in every way I look at you, you look exactly like a Charmander".

Charmander checked on himself and screamed. Vulpix giggled at that, because the Charmander screamed like a little girl that was running away from rats or something similar.

"I-It´s true!", Charmander shrieked, "I don't know why, but I´m a Pokémon. And not only that, but I'm a Charmander!".

Vulpix looked at him. She expected a terrified reaction on this realization, but the opposite happened.

"Awesome! I'm a Charmander! Can I use Flamethrower, too?", he asked the completely surprised Vulpix.

"G-guess so", she answered.

Charmander opened his mouth and a huge blast of flames came out of it. "THAT'S EVEN MORE AWESOME!", he yelled out. "This is like a dream! Being a Charmander and meeting the most beautiful girl in the entire world!".

Vulpix blushed at that statement. "Aren't you a little bit exaggerating?", she asked. "I mean, you've only seen me as a girl as of now, haven't you?".

"Well?", Charmander asked, waiting for the point. "Can't a boy say that he just met the most beautiful girl in his entire life? At least, I think so". He put on a thoughtful expression.

"You THINK so?", Vulpix asked, now completely confused. "Why did you say, you think so?".

"'Cuz I can't remember", Charmander replied.

"Who are you, anyway?", Vulpix finally managed to ask him.

"I´m….. uuuuhh…..", Charmander rubbed the back of his head, "….. I'm…. uuuuh…. My name is…".

"You forgot?", Vulpix asked. "Yeah", Charmander said.

"Well, anyhow, I'm Vulpix, it's nice to meet you". She reached out a paw. "Same here", Charmander said and shook the paw, which also shook Vulpix, because Charmander was considerably strong.

"Why the hell are you bouncing up and down, when I shake your hand?", Charmander asked. "Well…. It´ s just… I'm a little bit… well… shaky today…", Vulpix tried to avoid Charmander's confused and suspecting gaze.

"Hehehe, you are cute, when you're making up excuses like this". This made Vulpix blush a little bit, as she never heard such compliments before.

"D-don't say that", she said embarrassed.

"Why not? It's fun", Charmander said in a teasing manner. "Anyway, I don't have any clue of how I'm named or where the hell I come from".

"That sure is weird", Vulpix said, blush disappearing.

Suddenly, she got hit from behind. "Oooow!", she screamed and she fell into Charmander's arms.

"What the….?", Charmander asked in surprise.

The Pokémon that hit Vulpix was a mean looking Gligar. He raised his pincers in a threatening manner, but Charmander did not back down.

Next to the Gligar was a Bagon, a small dragon with a head as hard as steel. It and the Gligar apparently were best friends.

"Y-you again!", Vulpix yelled with tears in her eyes. In that moment, she noticed where she was and blushed madly. She then rushed to Charmander's side.

"Look what we found", Bagon said with an evil grin in his face.

"It's that coward-fox", Gligar grinned as well, "well, looks like you have gotten yourself a boyfriend, right?".

"He isn't my boyfriend!", Vulpix yelled, "I just met him here!".

"Love at first sight, I always say", Bagon teased.

"Shut the hell up!", now, Charmander put himself in the conflict.

"Whohoho, now the prince is trying to help his princess", Gligar teased. Charmander got angry. Really angry.

"How dare you to bully an innocent girl like her?", he roared.

"I-I guess h-he means it, pal", Bagon shivered out of fear. That Charmander-guy sure looked strong.

"Heck, I guess we don't have a choice", Gligar said and got himself ready to battle, "let us just defeat these weaklings and get the hell out of here!".

"Alright!", Bagon said happily.

The two rushed forward. Vulpix covered her eyes with her paws, while Charmander got a Flamethrower ready and fired it at the attackers. They dodged the attack and Gligar attacked Charmander with a powerful Scissor Cross attack. Charmander could barely dodge it, but he was hit by Bagon's Headbutt. Charmander fell to the ground but quickly stood up again, when Gligar came out of the sky to attack him with Brave Bird. Charmander dodged the attack and the flying scorpion crashed into the ground. He was defeated.

Now only Bagon was left. Vulpix decided to help her new friend and they attacked the little dragon together. Not long after that, Bagon was lying on the ground.

He and Gligar stood up and they ran away.

"Thank you so much", Vulpix said and smiled happily at Charmander. "For what?", Charmander asked. "For protecting me from those two big bad bullies", Vulpix said, still smiling, "they have been bullying me since I was little. And they did it just because I'm such a weakling and coward".

"For a weakling and coward, you were pretty awesome back then", Charmander said.

"You think so?", Vulpix was even happier, "thank you".

"Uhm…. I…. Have a favour to ask you", she said shortly after. Apparently, it was embarrassing for her, because she blushed slightly.

"What favour?", Charmander asked in surprise.

"Will you form an Exploration Team with me?", Vulpix asked, "I think, we would make a great combination. So do you want to? Please!".

"What should I do?", Charmander asked himself, "I don't even know what an Exploration Team is. But I don't think Vulpix is trying to fool me, so I think it's alright if I form a whatever team with her. So, alright".

"Yeah, I will", he said to Vulpix.

"Thank you so much, Charmander!", Vulpix said and hugged her new partner.

Thus, the adventures of the coward Vulpix and the human Charmander began. But this was just the beginning of many adventures that waited for them. Somewhere in this world, there was a great secret waiting for them to discover it.

**A****uthor´ s Notes: This was the revision of the first chapter, so stay tuned for more!**


	2. The Wigglytuffguild

**Chapter 2 The ****Wigglytuff-guild**

**Author´ s notes: Hello again. Here´ s another chapter of my fic. Hope you like it. Please review!**

"Boy, you are so slow!", Vulpix said to Charmander, as the newly formed team walked up a huge set of stairs.

"I´m not used to these short legs yet", Charmander was truly short of breath. He gasped for air during their little walk.

"Get a hang of yourself", Vulpix was a little over-excited, "we have to sign up our team at the local Exploration Team base. Then, we can get started. Please try to look like you´ re ready for intensive training!".

"Alright, alright", Charmander wiped the sweat on his forehead away, "I´ m trying".

After some more stairs and insults from Vulpix, the team made it to the entrance of the Wigglytuff guild, the local Exploration Team base Vulpix talked about. The house was shaped like Wigglytuff, the guild master.

"Isn´ t this thing a little small?", Charmander asked. "I asked myself the same question, too", Vulpix explained.

Charmander noticed a hole, that seemed to be very deep, in the ground. A lattice made it possible to walk over the hole. Vulpix stepped on the lattice, when suddenly a voice yelled up to her. "Intruder spotted! Pokémon alert…. Err… I mean…. Pokémon spotted! Intruder alert!". "Whose footprint is it?", another voice asked. "It´ s a Vulpix! It´ s a Vulpix", the first voice yelled.

"Waaaah", Vulpix screamed in shock, but decided to stay where she was right now. "What kind of weird greeting is that?", Charmander thought to himself, "isn´ t that kind of rude?".

"You can come IN!", the second voice said, "but you brought someone. The stranger must STEP on the LATTICE! COME ON!!!".

"I think, he meant you, Charmander", Vulpix said to her partner. "You must step on this lattice, like I did before". "Alright", Charmander said smiling, "I´ ll give it a try". He stepped on the lattice and the voice yelled again: "Pokémon spotted! Intruder alert!". "Whose footprint is it?", the second voice yelled. "It´ s the footprint of a…. a…. err…. What Pokémon is this?", the first voice didn´ t seem to have a clue, who Charmander was. "Is it a Charmander? I´ m sorry. I can´ t recognize what I don´ t know". "YOU CAN´ T?", the second voice sounded very angry, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? TELLING ME, THAT YOU DON´ T KNOW, WHO THIS VISITOR IS? DIGLETT, YOU ARE AS USELESS AS A MAGIKARP!". "I´ m sorry, Loudred", the Pokémon named Diglett was on the edge of tears.

"That Loudred guy sure is mean", Charmander said. Vulpix nodded in agreement.

"Okay, both of you can come in!", Loudred said and opened the gate.

"Finally, we can go inside", Vulpix was happy and excited at the same time, "my paws are shaking, "I´ m so nervous". "Do you want to waste time talking rather than just come in?", Charmander, who was already inside, asked his partner.

The two looked around. There was a ladder leading to lower levels right in the middle of the room. Charmander shrugged and climbed down the ladder, with Vulpix right behind (or should I say "above"?) him.

"This is amazing", Vulpix´ eyes shined, "this place is filled with Pokémon". They were on a floor, that was about twice the size of the entrance floor. A lot of Pokémon were talking to each other, or studying the boards on the wall. "Maybe, these are the bulletin-boards", Vulpix guessed. "These sure are", a Pidgey said.

Pidgey resembled a small, plump-bodied bird. It had a brown colour, with a lighter coloured throat and belly. The tips of its wings shared this cream color. Both its feet and beak were a pinkish-gray colour. It also had black markings around its eyes and a small crest of brown and cream feathers above its eyes.

"You can take missions from here", Pidgey explained, "just have a look at it, and choose the job you want to do. Then, go to the destination and… well, do your job". "Sounds interesting", Charmander said, "but what kind of jobs are there?". "Well, for example, there are jobs, that require you to rescue a lost Pokémon, find a lost item, or capture an outlaw. There are much more jobs, but you will get to know each kind, when you progress as a team". "Thank you", Charmander said to Pidgey and followed Vulpix to the east side of the room.

There, a Chimecho stood. It was a light-blue Pokémon with a round body and three stubby feet. Chimecho had a red stripe running across the horizontal length of its body and had yellow suction-cup-like growth on top. It had ribbon-like tail, which appeared to be underneath Chimecho's body. The tail ended with a red tip.

"Welcome to the Wigglytuff guild", Chimecho greeted, "here´ s the sign up stand, where you can register yourselves as a Exploration Team". "That´ s fitting, because we wanted to form one", Charmander said. "So, how´ s the name of your team?", Chimeco asked curiously. "We want to call us… uuuh", Vulpix looked at Charmander and nodded, as if she wanted him to decide on a team name. "We will call us Team Blaze!", he proudly announced. Vulpix smiled. She liked that name. "Alright, your team will be registered as Team Blaze", Chimeco wrote down the team name and members on a card and she said: "Wait a little moment". Then, she floated down the ladder into the second underground floor.

In the meantime, Charmander and Vulpix sat down on a bench, which stood at the other side facing the bulletin boards.

They waited a very long time.

"Dude, how long is this going to take?", Charmander asked impatiently. "I don´ t know", Vulpix tried to stay calm, but she was impatient as well.

After 6 or 7 hours a Chatot appeared in the room. Chatot was a bird Pokémon that had a head similar to an eighth note as well as a tail like a metronome. It was brightly coloured with blue wings, a yellow "bib" and a green stomach. It also possessed a white collar similar to a ruff.

"Well, hello", the Chatot said, "let me introduce myself! I´ m Chatot. You must be Team Blaze, our new recruits?". "Yes, that´ s right", Vulpix said with a nervous tone in her voice.

"Come with me", Chatot led the way down the ladder into the second floor of the guild.

They stopped in front of a small room. "Here´ s the guild masters room", Chatot explained, "never EVER be irreverently against the guild master, alright?". Vulpix looked at Charmander with a questioning look, but Charmander just shrugged as a response. Chatot opened the door into the room, and the group went in.

Here, the guild master Wigglytuff sat on a big chair. Wigglytuff resembled a pink blob with a fluffy tuft of fur on its head and long rabbit-like ears and a white belly. It had large blue eyes and stubby arms and legs. "Hey there", he greeted, "I´ m Wigglytuff, the guild master. So, you two want to form an Exploration team together?". "Yeah, that´ s what we want to do", Charmander said with an annoyed tone. "Alright, then I will register your team as Team Blaze", Wigglytuff said and he suddenly screamed louder than a jet plane. That was a Hyper Voice attack. Wigglytuff always did this, when he welcomed new members.

"Ow, my ears ache", Charmander said. "Mine too", Vulpix complained as well.

Wigglytuff handed them a bag, a map and a Rescue Team badge. "This is the treasure bag", Wigglytuff explained while showing the bag, "you can store items you found in caves or other places in here. Next we have the Rescue Team Badge". Wigglytuff held up the badge. "It´ s the sign, that you two are in a rescue team together". Next, he held up the map. "This is the wonder map", he explained, "here, you can see, where to go, when you took a job".

"Thanks , Wigglytuff", Vulpix´ eyes shone. "Train hard and make sure to become a great rescue team!", Wigglytuff said, as Chatot led the newly formed team out of the guild masters chamber and into their room.

"This is your room", he said, "you will live here, while working for the guild".

Here were two beds made of dry grass. Charmander and Vulpix stared at Chatot. They were shocked. Chatot grinned. He already knew their problem. Charmander was male and Vulpix was a female. And a boy and girl together in one room? "Don´ t worry about that", Chatot said happily and left.

"Let´ s go to sleep now", Vulpix said yawning. She lied down on her bed and fell asleep. Charmander did the same. He also quickly fell asleep.

---

In another dimension, Giratina was still seeking for revenge. He roared angrily and flew deeper into his world.

---

There were some exhausting jobs waiting for Charmander and Vulpix from now on. Their meeting seemed to be fated. What will happen next? Find out next chapter.

**Author´ s notes: And chapter 2 is coming to an end. Hope you liked it! Review please!**


	3. The very difficult job

**Chapter 3: The very difficult**** job**

**Author´ s note:**

**Welcome to a new chapter of my story. Please read it and don´ t forget to review!**

**Thanks a lot!**

"WAKE UUUUUUP!!!", a very loud voice yelled. "WAKE THE HELL UUUUUP!!!". "W-what was that?", Vulpix gasped, as she quickly jumped out of her bed. Charmander was already awake.

"YOU will be LATE for morning briefing", Loudred said and left the room. Loudred was a medium-sized blue creature that was somewhat "boxy" in shape. He had a huge mouth with yellow lips and peg like teeth on each corner. As the mouth was often open, his large tongue and throat were visible. In the rare times his mouth was seen closed, his top teeth may or may not show. Loudred had a stubby nose above his prominent mouth. He also had two spherical ears on the ends of short stalks, the ear insides ringed with black and purple and the backs of the ears ringed with black. Loudred had arms with three fingers and short legs, with two peg-like toes and a yellow circle on the foot's underside. Loudred's back had a yellow pattern that resembles sound waves.

"My poor ears", Vulpix complained. "What did you say?", Charmander asked, "I cannot hear anything". "Oh never mind", Vulpix said and let out a sigh, "anyway, we should go to the morning briefing, or whatever that is". "You´ re right", Charmander said and he quickly dashed out of the room, with an out-of-breath-Vulpix directly behind him.

As soon as they reached the main hall, Lourded yelled again: "YOU´RE LATE!". "Silence", Chatot seemed to be in a bad mood today, "you will shut up AT ONCE!". "I- I´ m sorry", Loudred suddenly fell silent.

"Everyone´ s here, or so it seems", Chatot rose up one wing. "Good morning!". "Good morning, everyone", the guild said.

"Well, let´ s greet our guild master", when Chatot said those words, the guild masters chamber doors opened and revealed the big, round normal-type.

"Good morning, dear guild master", the guild chanted. But Wigglytuff didn´ t respond. "Guild master?", Chatot was embarrassed. His boss was standing there, with his eyes wide open, but he was asleep.

"Well, that´ s funny", Sunflora screamed, "oh my gosh!". Sunflora was a Pokémon, that looked like a (you guessed it) sunflower.

"Heck, someone should take a picture of that", Croagunk blurted out. He resembled a dark blue bipedal frog, with a white band around his waist area and red and black markings on his hands and feet. His jutting teeth made it appear to be wearing a mouthguard. The black around his eyes and the white bands made him look like an injured fighter with black eyes and broken ribs. His cheeks were filled with a poison that ran to its fingers, allowing him to poison opponents by stabbing them.

"Well, then let us get to work!", Chatot shouted. "Alriiiiiiight!!!", everyone shouted as they rose their hands.

The guild members went in different directions except Charmander and Vulpix, who didn´ t have a clue what to do now. "You two", Chatot said to them, "come with me". He flew up the hole in the roof into the next floor. Charmander and Vulpix followed him per ladder.

Chatot stopped his tracks in front of one of the two bulletin boards. "What´ s that?", Charmander asked.

"This is a bulletin board", Chatot explained, "Pokémon from all over the world have requests. And they are posted here". "That Pidgey explained the same thing for us too, silly", Vulpix remarked, giggling. "Oh, right", Charmander was kind of embarrassed upon hearing that. Apparently, he forgot what Pidgey had explained to them.

"Are you two a couple, or what?", Chatot asked while rolling his eyes. Both Vulpix and Charmander blushed at that statement. "No, we´ re not in love with each other!", Vulpix shouted. "What´ s the reason for your sudden outburst?", Chatot asked in a teasing manner. Vulpix blushed even more, while Charmander laughed. He knew, that Chatot was teasing them, and he didn´ t fall for it.

"Anyway, you two will get a job today", Chatot said while taking a piece of paper from the bulletin board, "this will do for a first job". He handed the paper over to Vulpix.

"Let me read it", Vulpix said and began to read it, "I have a job request. If you have time, please do it! Please rescue me. I´m being bullied by two Kabuto in Drenched Bluff! Please rescue me! Pleeeeaaaaaassse!. From Rattata".

"It seems, that this Rattata is in trouble", Vulpix said, "alright, we will go and help him!". "Best of luck!", Chatot said.

Charmander and Vulpix made their way to the Drenched Bluff. Many puddles of water were here, so Charmander expected many water-type opponents. And he was right. Out of nowhere, the two were attacked by a Shellos, a small slug-like Pokémon. It was pink in colour and had a goofy looking face. Vulpix quickly used her Quick Attack on it. Shellos dodged the attack. It used a Water Pulse attack on Charmander, which he dodged. After that Charmander attacked with his Scratch attack. Shellos was hit and it fainted.

"Well done", Vulpix said. "But believe me", Charmander replied, "that wasn´ t very easy. Water types sure are hard to defeat". "Yeah, we´ re fire types, you know", Vulpix giggled slightly at the cluelessness of her partner, "when it is fire against water, fire will be put out".

"Then you have to strengthen the fire!", Charmander said proudly, as he punched the hell out of a Liliep. He learned to use Fire Punch.

After a few hours of walking, fighting and also eating, the two reached the bottom of the bluff.

Here, a lonely Rattata, a little Pokémon, that resembled a purple rat, was attacked by two vicious looking Kabuto.

Kabuto was similar to a shellfish with a tan shell. There were two small black dots, which were a second pair of eyes, on the front of its shell. Kabuto used these eyes when it hid deeper in its shell to protect itself from harm. Its black eyes sensed what was going on outside of the shell while it was hiding. Underneath its shell was mostly black, with two red eyes, which glowed in the dark, and four yellow-tan legs. It mostly attacked using its claws, which could scratch or drain energy.

"Hey, leave this Rattata alone!", Charmander yelled at the Kabutos. "Look at that", one Kabuto said to the other, "there are fire types over there!".

"Oh yeah", the other Kabuto turned around, "bullying that Rattata´ s got boring. Let´ s beat those guys to hell!". "You´ re on!", Charmander said and attacked one Kabuto with his newly learned Fire Punch. It didn´ t do much damage, though.

"What?".

"Kabuto is a water and rock type Pokémon at the same time!", Vulpix explained, "fire won´ t have much effect on them". "But how can we beat them, if we can´ t use our special attacks?", Charmander asked, as he dodged an Aqua Jet attack from the second Kabuto. "Here, take this!", the first Kabuto shouted and attacked Charmander with a Scratch attack. Charmander stumbled back.

"If this is going to continue like this, we will lose the battle", tears welled up in Vulpix´ eyes. Her paws were trembling from fear, and her six tails waved nervously.

"Vulpix, don´ t give up just yet!", Charmander shouted to her, "you wanted to be brave, remember? So, be it! And help me think of a way to defeat those stupid crabs!".

Vulpix stared in shock at Charmander. She never expected him to be the one to put courage into her. The one she always wished for. Vulpix blushed slightly.

Charmander fell to the ground. He was exhausted. The last Aqua Jet from Kabuto was a critical hit. "I won´ t give up this battle!", he shouted, "I will rescue that Rattata, no matter what!". This last sentence snapped Vulpix back to reality. "Charmander", she shouted. Suddenly, something came to her mind. She opened the treasure bag and took out some Geo Pebbles, which they found on their way. Then, she hurled one of them at one Kabuto. He got hit by the small rock and stumbled back.

"What?", the other Kabuto asked in shock.

Charmander stood up. "Great, Vulpix", he thought, picked up some Geo Pebbles and threw them at their opponents as well.

Soon, the two Kabuto got panicked and quickly rushed away.

"We did it!", Vulpix shouted happily. "All thanks to you". "What, me?", Charmander was shocked upon hearing that, "I didn´ t do anything. You were the one, who came up with those rocks". "But if it wasn´ t for your shouting, I would never have come up with that idea", Vulpix said, blushing, "thank you".

Charmander fell silent. ´Vulpix said "thank you" in a very cheesy way´, he thought. ´Could it be…?´

He quickly shook the thought out of his head. "Let´ s get this Rattata out of here", he said as he approached the little rat Pokémon.

"It´ s okay, you´ re safe now", Charmander said.

"Thank you", Rattata jumped happily.

Back at the guild, Rattata gave the team an amazing amount of money: 3 000 Pokédollars.

Then, he left.

"Can you imagine that?", Vulpix asked, "we´ re rich! Simply rich!".

"Yeah", Charmander was also shocked, "I never thought I would be rich THIS soon. Or did I? I can´ t remember". Vulpix sweatdropped upon hearing this statement from her partner.

"I have to disappoint you", Chatot said, "I will take this money".

"What?", Vulpix asked in shock, "why?".

"90% of earned money through job offers belong to the guild, that means…", he gave Charmander and Vulpix a small amount of money, "your team gets 300 Pokédollars".

"But…".

"No buts!", Chatot suddenly burst out, "it´ s a rule here! Get used to it, dammit!!!".

He went down the ladder. Vulpix had a disappointed look on her face. "What kind of rule is that?", she asked, "that´ s just stupid". "We can´ t do anything against it, though", Charmander replied, "so, like Chatot said, we will have to get used to it. We have no choice".

"Maybe, you´ re right", Vulpix nodded, "let´ s go". The two went down the ladder, as Chimeco called everyone to come and eat. It was dinner time.

**Author´ s notes:**

**Oh well, what a disappointing realization!**

**Don´ t forget to review, readers.**

**See you next chapter!**


	4. Bidoof s nonsense

**Author´ s notes: Hello, guys. Here****´ s the 4****th**** chapter of my story. I hope you like it and please don´ t forget to review. You may notice some grammar mistakes (whenever Bidoof speaks XD). They were made on purpose, so please don´ t sue me for that.**

**On to the story!**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 4: Bidoof´ s nonsense**

_"What are we going to do?", Palkia, the ruler of space, asked during a talk with Dialga, the ruler of time. _

_Palkia looked dinosaur-like. He was mostly pink in colour with purple lines over his body. He had plates on its shoulder area, where two pink pearls laid encrusted, a long neck and a powerful tail. He also possessed wings on his back, that enabled him to fly. Dialga, on the other hand, was a darker blue with light blue stripes over his body. Dialga was dinosaur-like, like Palkia, only quadrupedal, while Palkia was bipedal. He had some metallic portions, such as its chestplate, which had a diamond in the center. He had a somewhat wing-like structure on its back, and a crest on his head, resembling a type of dinosaur. Dialga also had long claws and a short tail, that resembled the one Palkia had._

_"What do you mean?", Dialga asked. "If Giratina ever returns to this world, there will be nothing but destruction", Palkia explained, "and it takes the power of both of us AND Arceus to restrain Giratina"._

_"So?". _

_"If we are going against Giratina, we will die, and you know it, Dialga!", Palkia seemed nervous. "Palkia, don´ t worry", Dialga said calmly, "we already know who can defeat Giratina. And we will help him. I´ m sure, that we can do it together with him". "Yeah, that human, indeed, seems to be strong as a Pokémon", Palkia said. Dialga nodded in reply. _

_"We just have to wait"._

---

"Well, good morning, guild members!", Chatot shouted at morning briefing. "Good morning!", the guild answered. This time, the guild master Wigglytuff was awake as well, so he greeted his friends with a happy: "Have a good, nice day".

As morning briefing was over, Chatot called out for Charmander and Vulpix to follow him. Today, he wanted them to capture an outlaw.

"An outlaw?", Vulpix asked, shocked, "you mean outlaw as in evil, vicious creature?". "That´ s exactly what I mean", Chatot grinned, "but don´ t worry. You two did a great job in rescuing Rattata, you won´ t have problems with this job. Besides, there are the REAL evil Pokémon and there are those, who we call "wannabe-evils". They´ re just mean Pokémon, which fool others or steal their possessions".

"That´ s a relief", Vulpix sighed. "What are you afraid of?", Charmander asked, "as long as we are a team, no one can defeat us!". "You think so?", Vulpix asked. She was not very confident. "Absolutely!", Charmander clenched his fist and grinned. Vulpix shook her head and smiled at him.

´Somehow, he always manages to lighten up the mood...´

"But first, I will ask someone to show you around these places", Chatot said. "Bidoof! Bidoof?".

"Yeah?", a goofy sounding voice asked, and a small brown rodent-like creature with large front teeth came into the room from downstairs. He had tufts of fur on his tails and a ring of them on his face. He also had slightly webbed paws.

Charmander and Vulpix almost burst out in laughter by just looking at Bidoof, but they tried to get a hang on themselves.

"Bidoof, this is Team Blaze", Chatot explained to the rodent-Pokémon, "they´ re new here and I want you to show them around, alright? Got it?".

"I get it", Bidoof said with his goofy sounding voice. Charmander and Vulpix giggled a bit.

"Good, I leave this to you, then", Chatot flew downstairs, leaving Charmander and Vulpix alone with Bidoof.

"Follow I", Bidoof said and went upstairs. Charmanders eyes widened in shock. This Bidoof didn´ t know how to speak! Vulpix burst out in laughter. She couldn´ t take it anymore. A goofy looking Pokémon with no grammar.

The two followed Bidoof, however.

"Let I explain", he said, as the trio arrived in the town, "you can buy thing here, you know. You can also store you item and money. This town no have a bornig place. You enjoy it".

"Okay...", Charmander tried not to laugh. This would offend the poor Bidoof. "Thanks for explaining, Bidoof", Vulpix said. "Come back to guild, when ready. I help you find an outlaw to defeat". With this, Bidoof walked back to the guild.

"Holy Arceus!", Vulpix laughed, "this Bidoof is as funny as a Piplup, that gets roasted by an electric-type". "Do you hate Piplup?", Charmander asked. "Yes", Vulpix flatly said, "but we should concentrate on preparing for our next mission". "Yes, you´ re right", Charmander agreed. The two made their way towards Kecleon shop, a small market, which was run by two Kecleon. Kecleon was a reptilian Pokémon. It had yellow around the eyes as well as yellow lips and frills. Kecleon had small ridges on its shoulders and a red zigzag stripe about its midsection. It also had a long skinny tail that was usually curled in a helix shape.

One Kecleon was green and the other one purple.

"Welcome to our shop!", the green Kecleon greeted. "You can buy anything and everything you want", the purple Kecleon said. "She wanted to make "preparations", so she is the one to talk to", Charmander said and pointed towards his fox-friend.

"Well I wanted to have...", Vulpix stared at the items, which laid in the shelves, "two Oran Berries, three Apples, ten Gravelerrocks and two Reviver Seeds. Oh and two Max Elixir".

"And who will pay for that?", Charmander asked surprised.

"Alright, that costs 1950 Pokédollars", the green Kecleon said. Charmanders eyes widened in shock. "So much?", he asked. "Yes, of course", the purple Kecleon answered. "Okay. here it is", Vulpix handed over the money, took the items and stored them into their treasure bag. "See you some other time", the two Kecleon said, as Vulpix and Charmander left the shop.

"Now let´ s get back to the guild, so we can take our job for today", Vulpix said. Charmander agreed and the two went back to the guild and the first underground floor, where Bidoof was waiting.

"There you are", he said, "then let we get you job, already". "Yeah", Vulpix said, "that would be awesome". "First, I have to explain what job is", Bidoof said, "you take job from here, go to the dungeon and do they. If you no have item, it be difficult for you. Everytime you complete job, you get reward. Most of time, it be money, sometime item". "Can´ t you stop talking?", Charmander was annoyed, "I want to do the job today, not in two years, alright?". "No can I explain something?", Bidoof asked. "Let us receive a job already", Charmander pushed Bidoof aside and looked at the outlaw listings. "This one should do", he said, as he took the paper. There was a big "wanted" written on the letter, as well as the picture of a very strong-looking Pokémon.

"It says here, that this outlaw hides himself in Needle Rock Cavern", Charmander read, "come on Vulpix, let´ s get started!". "Yeah", Vulpix was happy to see her partner like this. The duo went towards their destination, as Bidoof looked around the room, apparently not realizing, that the recruits he was supposed to guide weren´ t around anymore.

**Author´ s notes: **

**And that´ s the fourth chapter. Wonder, who that strong-looking outlaw is? Well, you will find it out next chapter. Review please.**


	5. VS Onix Part 1

**Author´**** s notes:**

**I don´ t know, but I would really like it, if you reviewed. Well, you don´ t have to, but it would be nice.**

**I must admit: the last chapter was kind of filler. So, this chapter gets the plot rolling further.**

**And please don´ t forget to review, folks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. I wish I would, though…**

**Chapter 5: VS. Onix Part 1**

Team Blaze soon arrived at Needle Rock Cave. The name gave it away already: the rocks in here looked exactly like needles.

"I assure you, I won´ t touch those rocks!", Charmander said, as the duo kept going. "Me neither", Vulpix replied.

They ran into a bunch of Zubat, blue bat-like Pokémon without eyes. They attacked the duo.

"Okay, now we have problems!", Vulpix shrieked, as one Zubat leapt at her. She ran away and hid herself behind a rock.

"Vulpix, come back here!", Charmander sounded angry, "help me out!".

"Sorry, but I´ m scared of Zubats", Vulpix replied weakly.

Charmander rolled his eyes and attacked one Zubat with Metal Claw. It fell to the ground.

Two other Zubat suddenly attacked with Bite and Wing Attacks. Charmander dodged the attacks and defeated them with his Flamethrower.

"There are too many of them", Charmander thought. "I can´ t defeat them all by myself". Just as he was about to defeat another Zubat, a Confuse Ray hit him. He became confused and attacked himself with Metal Claw. The Zubat continued their assault on him with Leech Life, Astonish, Bite, Wing Attack, Poison Fang and many other attacks.

Vulpix watched the battle with trembling paws. "What am I doing?", she asked herself. "I´ m leaving a friend behind. I just can´ t do this. I have to help him!". She remembered Charmanders words during their fight against the two Kabuto: "Vulpix, don´ t give up just yet". A warm feeling suddenly overcame her. She felt like she was getting all fired up.

She jumped out of her hiding place and attacked the Zubats with her Extrasensory. Then, she gave Charmander a Heal Seed. Charmander snapped out of his confusion and together, they managed to defeat the rest of the Zubats with a combined Flamethrower attack.

"Phew, that was a hard battle". Charmander sighed.

"Remember, that there´ s still this outlaw waiting for us", Vulpix said. "We must not be careless".

"I know, I know. Let´ s get going".

"Alright".

The duo went further into the cave, when they were suddenly attacked by a Geodude, a Pokémon, which looked like a rock with arms and a face. It was levitating. Charmander and Vulpix defeated it with ease, however. The Geodude ran away.

Deeper in the cave…

"Boss!". The Geodude, which had been defeated by Charmander and Vulpix, cried out, as he entered a very big room with many boulders on the ceiling.

"What is it, Geodude?".

"There´ s an Exploration team in this cave!".

"What did you say?".

"Yeah. And they defeated me not too long ago".

"That is interesting".

"You think so?".

"Which Pokémon are they?".

"They are a brave and strong Charmander and a scaredy-cat of a Vulpix".

"So, two fire types, eh? Heh, when they arrive here, I will teach them a thing or two!".

"Of course, Boss! Hahaha".

"Quit your laughing at once!".

"Right".

Back to Vulpix and Charmander…

"We went pretty far into this cave, didn´ t we?", Vulpix asked. "I wonder, if we reach the end soon".

"Be patient, Vulpix", Charmander said. "If this outlaw is that strong, we have to be careful anyway".

"I guess, you´ re right".

"Of course I´ m right".

The two went further and further into the cave, not knowing, that there was the most dangerous enemy they ever faced waiting for them. They defeated a bunch of Geodudes, Zubats and several other Pokémon on their way.

After a few hours of walking, the two entered a very big room.

"Wow, is this the end of the cave?", Vulpix asked.

"It has to be", Charmander answered.

"So, you´ ve come here?", a very deep voice asked. An Onix burst out of the ground. It was a rock-Pokémon, that looked like a snake made up of rocks. It was like 31 feet tall and seemed to be very dangerous altogether.

"You must be the Exploration Team, that tries to capture me, the great Onix!", Onix yelled.

Vulpix was about to run away again. This Onix frightened her, while Charmander had a confident look on his face.

"You wanna battle?", Onix asked, "then come on!". It started with a Tackle attack. Both Charmander and Vulpix were able to dodge it. Charmander attacked with his Flamethrower, while Vulpix threw a Blast Seed at Onix.

Onix simply shook off the attacks and countered with Rock Slide. Huge boulders began falling from the roof. Charmander and Vulpix had problems with dodging, because of the sheer size the boulders had. Soon, the Rock Slide turned into a boulder rain. Charmander and Vulpix had no way of dodging this.

Back at the guild…

"I wonder, if Team Blaze is okay", Chatot said. He seemed to be worried. "Why are you worried?", Wigglytuff asked. "They defeated two Kabutos after all. They can handle it". "I wouldn´ t be so sure about that, if I were you", Chatot had a sad look on his face. "They are about to rise up against an S-class outlaw named Onix. He even managed to defeat Officer Magnezone once!". Wigglytuff´ s eyes widened in shock. "Is that true?", he asked. "Absolutely".

"Then we must go and help!".

"It´ s too late. All we can do, is counting on them".

In Needle Cave, Charmander and Vulpix laid on the ground. Charmander was hit by falling boulders twice and Vulpix had scratches all over her body. Onix was about to attack them with an Iron Head attack.

The attack hit and the two were thrown around the room like rubber balls.

Fortunately for them, they landed behind a huge boulder, where Onix couldn´ t see them.

"Come out, you cowards!", he yelled.

Slowly, Vulpix opened her eyes. Her gaze fell onto the unconscious figure of Charmander.

"Charmander, are you all right?", she asked, trembling. She gently shook him, but he didn´ t respond. "Charmander. Wake up! Please!". Tears welled up in her eyes. "Charmander. Don´ t die! Please don´ t die!!!". She broke out in tears. Suddenly, Onix appeared behind her. "Found you!", he yelled.

Vulpix turned around, as Onix attacked with a Head Smash attack.

-To be continued-

**Author´ s notes: Suspense!**

**Anyway, the next update could take a while, since Christmas is coming, and I´ m getting busy with school work, but I try to update at the end of the year. Merry Christmas and a happy new year, everyone!**

**Review please.**


	6. VS Onix Part 2

**Author´ s notes:**

**Happy 2010 everyone! Sorry for not updating recently. The future updates won´ t come too fast either, because next week, school starts again and the final exams are coming in the near future. And I want to get good grades to graduate with pride! So the updates will take longer. I hope you don´ t forget about this story. And I also hope you guys understand my situation.**

**Anyway, enjoy this new chapter and please review! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon…**

**P.S.: Be warned as there will be death talk in this chapter.**

**  
****Chapter 6: VS. Onix -Part 2- Forbidden flaming combination!**

The startled Vulpix couldn´ t move a muscle, as the powerful rock-snake Pokémon Onix approached her very fast with the most powerful rock-type attack next to Rock Wrecker: the Head Smash!

"At this rate I will be hit head on!", Vulpx thought, "is this the end for me?".

Onix crashed into Vulpix. The impact send her flying across the room. Onix crashed into a massive boulder and got dizzy but he quickly recovered and attacked Vulpix once more. The young fox Pokémon was lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Now I´ ve got you!", Onix yelled, as his tail began glowing and he attacked with an Iron Tail. At least, that is what he wanted to do. Suddenly a powerful flame hit him in the back and he stumbled in shock. "WHAT?", he asked, noticing a certain lizard Pokémon standing on top of a rock. The tail flame was about five times its normal size. "That is a Charmander´ s special ability: Blaze!", Charmander announced, as he fired another flamethrower attack at Onix. Onix roared in pain and fell to the ground, seemingly defeated.

"Vulpix, are you all right?", Charmander asked worried about Vulpix´ well-being. Slowly, Vulpix opened her eyes and met with Charmander´ s. "You are… all right", Vulpix was shocked to see her friend, of whom she thought was dead, right in front of her. "Don´ t be surprised", Charmander said. trying to calm Vulpix, "the Reviver Seed we found earlier came in handy for me, so don´ t worry". "I´ m just glad to see you alive", Vulpix began crying and she hugged Charmander tightly, which made him blush like mad.

"No time for that, you lovebirds!", Onix teased, as he got up, now angrier than ever before in his entire life. "Oh no!", Vulpix screamed, as Onix attacked them with Dragon Breath. "I thought I defeated him back then!", Charmander said. "Well, he doesn´ t look defeated to me", Vulpix replied, "it´ s more like the opposite!".

Onix attacked the duo again and again and all they could do was dodging the attacks. ´Dodging isn´t leading us anywhere´, Charmander thought, ´we have to attack head on and hope that we get the timing right´. Charmander stopped dodging and ran straight towards the Onix, who turned berserk. He attacked not only Vulpix and Charmander but his surroundings as well.

"What´ s up with that Onix?", Charmander asked himself, "it looks like every time he is damaged, he turns a little wilder and stronger". Charmander attacked with his Flamethrower to overpower Onix´ Dragon Breath, but it wasn´ t working.

"May I join the fun?", Vulpix asked and used her own Flamethrower too. "You´ re kind of late!", Charmander said. "Sorry".

"Ha, you don´ t stand a chance against me!", Onix yelled and strengthened the Dragorn Breath. It pushed both Charmander´ s and Vulpix´ flames back. "We can´ t do it like this", Charmander thought, "if only our attack was stronger than his". He looked over to Vulpix. "We would be able to beat him".

Vulpix´ flame got smaller and smaller. She was totally exhausted and she couldn´ t hold it much longer. Charmander stopped his Flamethrower, as did Vulpix.

"We must combine our attacks", Charmander said. "We cannot win, if we are doing it ourselves. We must work as a team". "You´ re right", Vulpix answered.

Onix fired another Dragon Breath at the duo.

Charmander and Vulpix combined their own flames into one huge blast, that ripped right through the Dragon Breath and hit the Onix right in the belly. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground and didn´ t move at all.

"We did it!", the two of them yelled. "You were great, Charmander", Vulpix said and gave Charmander a warm and friendly smile. Charmander smiled back but then collapsed to the ground.

Vulpix was shocked.

"Charmander! What´ s up with you? Come on. Please wake up. Charmander! Don´ t play dumb with me! Charmander!!!!".

Suddenly a stinging pain went through Vulpix´ body and she collapsed to the ground as well.

* * *

"Hmmm".

Vulpix woke up. She was in her room in the guild. Charmander was next to her, sleeping. "What happened to us?", she asked, "we were in that cave, battling that Onix and then… I just passed out…".

"Oh my gosh! You are awake!". Sunflora and the other guild members stormed into Vulpix´ room. The loud noises awoke Charmander. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"You did a very good job", Chatot said. "You two sure are a great team".

"Thank you Chatot".

"But there is one thing I need to discuss with you. Come with me". Chatot lead the way towards his own room.

In Chatot´ s room...

"Sit down, please", he said, as he offered "chairs" made of moss to the two. Charmander sat down. Vulpix did so too shortly after.

"What is this thing you wanted to discuss with us?", Charmander asked.

"It is about your last mission".

"What about that?".

"You two were fighting an S-ranked outlaw. They are normally nearly unbeatable. That means, undefeatable for freshmen like you. So I have the following question: What kind of Pokémon are you, to possess such a big power to overcome your weakness?".

"We did a quick thinking thingy", Charmander said, "we combined our two Flamethrowers into one and fried the Onix with it".

"That is exactly the thing I´ m talking about".

"What thing?", Vulpix finally spoke up.

"The Onix is fatally injured. You two nearly killed him and you were only supposed to capture him for Magnezone and his troop. This is why I ordered you two here".

"Do you want to arrest us?".

"No, no. Not at all. But I want you guys to know, that you must not use that combination ever again, got it?".

"Alright".

Charmander and Vulpix seemed disappointed. They had just invented a new attack, and they were forbidden to use it freely.

"Good", Chatot was happy again, "then let us go and eat. It is dinner time!".

"Yaay!".

After dinner…

Charmander and Vulpix were talking to each other in their room.

"Say, Charmander".

"What is it?".

"Do you think, that it is unfair, that Chatot forbid us to use our new combo?".

"I don´ t know about that. I mean, we literally roasted that Onix. And imagine how this will affect weaker Pokémon or even worse Pokémon with a weakness to fire attacks".

"Guess you´ re right".

"By the way, I heard you where crying for me back then".

Vulpix blushed. ´He… knows about that?´

"Thank you".

"What?".

"I never expected you to cry for me. I wanted to than you for that, because now I know, that we have a very strong bond of friendship with each other".

"Y-yeah, that´ s right…", Vulpix stuttered.

Silence.

"Charmander, there´ s something I wanted to tell you. I know, it might be weird since we know each other for only three days now, but I really… Charmander?". Vulpix looked over to her partner and found him sleeping in his bed, slightly snoring.

"Oh never mind". Vulpix smiled and laid down on her bed, soon sleeping as well.

* * *

"You failed!".

"I´ m sorry, great master". The shocked Onix woke up in a special hall of the hospital. He was afraid of something that was nearby.

"Excuses aren´ t accepted!".

"Please let me live. I beg you. Please!".

"A failure like you begs me to let you live? How amusing…".

"NOOOOOO!".

-To be continued-

**Author´ s notes:**

**Who was the creature that punished Onix for his "failure"? And what did Vulpix wanted to tell Charmander?**

**I hope you liked the chapter. And before you ask: Yes, Onix is dead. There you got it. Review please.**

**Oh and very special thanks to the two that reviewed my earlier chapters:**

**WolfXArcher**

**Mystik Shadows**

**Thank you! **

**See you next chapter!**


	7. Could this be?

**Author´s notes: Guess who! I****´m back with another chapter! Yeah, never expected that, right? Sorry it took me so long to update my story. That was because I´m busy with school work right now. You know, the final exams coming up and such. I hope you guys forgive me for not updating for so long, since the other chapters came out almost weekly.**

**Well, here you go! Enjoy it!**

**Chapter 7: Could this be…?**

"_Help us!"._

"_Who are you?"._

"_Please help us. Our world is in danger…"._

"_Why, what world, I don´ t understand…"._

"_Please, you have to help… you are the only one, who can do it. We believe in you. Please, you must stop Giratina from destroying our world"._

"_WHAT? Who the hell is this Giratina? And who are you? And why do I have to save a world? I´ m just a human boy, who goes to school and does his homework and…"._

"_You´ ve got to do it. You are more than just a human. Inside of you, we discovered the potential to rescue our world from complete destruction…"._

"_I´ ve got no potential for anything. Not even for PE! I´ m the worst when it comes to PE. Especially in stamina…"._

"_If you decide to help us, we might help you with your little problem"._

"_Really?"._

"_Yes, we shall do it"._

"_That is great! In that case, I am ready. I will do whatever it takes to save your world!"._

"_We are grateful. Come and meet us at Destiny Tower first"._

"_Alright!"._

**---**

"WAAAAKE UUUUUUUP!!!", Loudred yelled out, as he got into Team Blaze´ s room.

"My ears…", Vulpix complained. "Mine too…", Charmander held his head, as if he wanted to hold it in place.

Loudred left the room.

"Good morning, Charmander", Vulpix said while yawning.

"Good morning", Charmander replied. He seemed to be in a good mood today. "What do you want to do today?".

"The same thing we do everyday. Completing missions and such".

"Then let´ s go to the morning briefing".

"Yeah".

The two arrived in the main hall, shortly before everyone else beside the Guildmaster and his henchman Chatot.

"Well, good morning everyone!", Chatot greeted.

"Good morning Chatot and Guildmaster!", the guild cheered.

"Then let us do good today", Chatot said, as he rose up a wing.

"So, then let us get to work", Vulpix said to Charmander.

"You two, come to me!", Chatot ordered. Charmander and Vulpix went in Chatot´ s direction with a questioning look on their faces.

"What is it Chatot?", Charmander asked.

"I only wanted to make sure, that you two don´ t use your combo ever again".

"You talked about that to us yesterday", Vulpix said, slightly annoyed, "you don´ t have to tell us today".

"And there is one more thing I am worried about", Chatot exclaimed.

"And that would be…?", Charmander was impatient. He wanted to get to work as fast as possible.

"The Onix you defeated yesterday was brought to the hospital… and he was found this morning in his room… and he was dead".

Charmander and Vulpix looked shocked.

"WHAT?", they both asked.

"Yes, so it seems. And his death is a real mystery. At first look it seems, that he died from his injuries, but this isn´ t true. He died because of something else".

"What is it?", Vulpix asked. Her paws were trembling out of fear.

"Magnezone and his troops are currently researching this incident. As far as I know, the Onix didn´ t die by himself but by the hands of someone else".

"Who is it?", Charmander asked.

"We don´ t know anything about this. The only thing that´ s sure is: Onix was killed last night in his room. If there is a Pokémon out there, that kills others, you have to be careful, okay? I don´ t want to witness something like that again".

"Something like that?", Vulpix asked curiously.

"Yeah, there once were two recruits before you", Chatot explained, "one morning, we found both of them dead in their room. And nobody knew the reason for their death".

Vulpix became scared. "I don´ t want to die", she shrieked.

"Don´ t worry", Charmander said calmly, "I will protect you. That is, what partners do, right?". Vulpix blushed slightly.

"Anyway, you two can choose today´ s mission freely, so go on ahead. I´ ll leave it to you!", Chatot said and went up the ladder.

Vulpix and Charmander followed Chatot and went up the ladder.

At the bulletin board, they chose a job, which led them to a new place called "Illusion Meadow".

"This meadow somehow is creepy", Vulpix said. The meadow was completely dark. The trees didn´ t have any leaves. They were just dark skeletons standing still in a completely dark surrounding.

"They should rename it, the dark meadow", Charmander exclaimed, "that would be a more fitting name".

"Charmander, I´ m scared", Vulpix said. "Don´ t be afraid", Charmander said, "as long as we are as a team, there is nothing that can stop us!".

"Yeah, you´ re right".

Charmander smiled at Vulpix. She smiled back. The two continued their path. It got darker and darker.

They walked further into the meadow until they saw a black hole, which was levitating freely in the air.

"What is this?", Vulpix asked. "I don´ t know", Charmander answered, "maybe it is some kind of gate or something".

"You sure?", Vulpix asked. Charmander nodded.

"Should we go through?".

Charmander nodded again.

"Alright", Vulpix took a deep breath and jumped into the black hole. Charmander jumped after her.

"They are here!".

Vulpix slowly opened her eyes. She couldn´ t believe what she saw around her. It was dark and rocks were levitating freely in the air.

"What is this place?", she asked. Charmander woke up. "Where are we?", he asked. "I don´ t know", Vulpix replied, shaking her head.

"This sure is a weird place", Charmander said after looking around.

Suddenly, the two heard a loud high-pitched roar.

"What was that?", Vulpix asked in shock.

"Look up there", Charmander replied and pointed on a Pokémon, which was about hundred times their size. It looked like a dragon. It had six black streamers on its back that each had a ghostly red spike at the end. Its mouth was hidden by the head plates, which swung open sideways when the mouth was opening. Its legs have been replaced by spike-like protrusions. There were four more golden spikes near the edge of the tail.

"What kind of Pokémon is this?", Vulpix was scared by the big dragon Pokémon floating right above them. It looked at them with an angry expression on its face.

"So you are here!", it said.

"How do you know about us? It seems like you have been waiting for us", Vulpix said.

"Indeed, I´ ve been waiting for your arrival since you came to this world", the dragon Pokémon answered, "but this doesn´ t mean, I will be friendly! I will destroy you right off the bat!".

"But why?", Vulpix yelled, "why do you want to kill us? We didn´ t do anything to you".

"Maybe, but I swore revenge on the Pokémon world", the dragon said, "and you live in the Pokémon world, so you two will be destroyed along with many other Pokémon!".

"You can´ t do that", Charmander yelled, "you don´ t have the right to kill innocent Pokémon! That just isn´ t right!".

"And YOU don´ t have the right to talk to me like that!", the great dragon opened its mouth and formed a blue fire sphere within it.

The dragon fired the ball of concentrated energy on Charmander and Vulpix, who could barely dodge the attack, which was about ten times their size.

Charmander attacked the dragon with his Flamethrower, but it didn´ t do any damage.

"You can´ t defeat me with this level of attacks!", the dragon explained, "you will need stronger attacks than that!". Suddenly, it got hit by another Flamethrower, this time performed by Vulpix, but it didn´ t do any damage, either.

"Our attacks won´ t work", Vulpix said, crying, "This Pokémon is just too strong".

"Now you will perish forever!", the great dragon said, as he charged up a black vortex between his head plates, which usually covered its mouth.

"If this keeps up, it will be our end!", Vulpix shrieked, "Charmander, I don´ t want to die yet! I don´ t want to!".

"No panic, Vulpix", Charmander said, "you have to stay strong in times like this. Even if this is the end for us… you have to stay strong until the last second! Don´ t give up on yourself!". Unknowingly, he embraced her while saying this.

Meanwhile, the dragon got his attack ready and fired the black vortex as a giant beam of black energy on the two Pokémon before it.

---

Charmander jumped up from his bed. He looked beside him. Vulpix was sleeping there, as if nothing happened.

´What was that?´, he thought, ´was this a nightmare? Vulpix is sleeping peacefully… But why did I have a dream like this? I don´ t understand…´.

He yawned.

´It is still night. I should get some more sleep´, he thought to himself, laid down on his bed and soon, he was sleeping.

**Author´ s notes: Well? What do you think? It was just a dream! But why did Charmander have a dream like this? Could this be the future of team blaze? Or will this stay a horrible nightmare? Well, you´ ll find out, if you stay tuned! And don´ t forget to review, if you liked it.**

**See you next chapter!**

**-by Shining4Charizard**


	8. True feelings

**Author****´ s notes: Phew, finally I get the time to make a new chapter. THAT was a very stressing time. School work all over the place and much other non-school stuff to do. For example there was the short revision of earlier chapters. **

**Well, now that that is done, let´ s get on with the show.**

**P.S.: Be warned as there will be death talk in this chapter.**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 8: ****True feelings**

"WAAAAAKE UUUUUP!!!", Lourdred yelled and left the room. Vulpix and Charmander fell out of their beds, because of the loud voice and the shock.

"Owww", Vulpix complained, "I think I hurt my back. Good morning, Charmander. Charmander? Where are you?". She looked around, but couldn´ t find her partner anywhere. "Charmander!!!", she yelled out, "wheeere are yooooouuuuu?".

"Down here", she heard a voice. Vulpix looked down and saw Charmander. She was sitting on his back and he was staring at her with an angry expression on his face.

"Oh, I´ m sorry", she quickly jumped off Charmander´ s back and he stood up. "Never mind", he replied, "what time is it?". "I don´ t know", Vulpix answered, "but maybe we should go out and meet with the others". "Could be a good idea", Charmander remarked as the duo went to the main hall. Surprisingly, nobody was here.

"What the…? Where is everyone?", Charmander asked, shocked. Vulpix simply looked around. "I don´ t know", she said. "Maybe they are on vacation or something similar". "I´ m not sure about that…", Charmander said, "I think they are all sleeping". "Loudred should be somewhere around here", Vulpix said, "let´ s go and search for him". "Okay", Charmander said.

The two searched in the whole guild, but nobody was here. Thus, they went outside. Nobody was here either, except the Pokémon which were here normally.

"Excuse me", Vulpix said to the green Kecleon brother, "can you tell me, where the guild members are?". "I don´ t know", Kecleon answered, "I haven´ t seen them since yesterday".

"Strange…".

The two went back to the guild, only to be laughed at by the others.

"You fell for it!", Chatot laughed. "Fell for what?", Charmander said, dumbfound. "We left the guild and went to the Spinda café; right after Loudred woke you up! We wanted to see, how you´ d react on this!". "And it work!", Bidoof was laughing like there was no tomorrow.

"That was mean, guys", Vulpix said, "we were seriously worried about you all!". "Don´ t worry, it was a little prank, my friends", Wigglytuff said happily, "don´ t be mad at us!". "Okay", Vulpix sweat dropped.

Everyone went to their respective places. Charmander and Vulpix looked at the bulletin boards. "Is there any job we could take?", Vulpix asked. "Nope", Charmander answered, "they were already taken by other exploration teams". "That is sad", Vulpix said, "what are we supposed to do today?". Charmander shrugged. "As if I knew that…".

"Maybe Chatot has a task for us", Vulpix exclaimed. She and Charmander went to Chatot´ s room. He was sitting in his chair, while drinking a cup of… something. It was green, with a fade shade of brown. It didn´ t look nor did it smell very tasty.

"What is it?", Chatot greeted. "We wanted to ask if you have any task for us to do".

Chatot thought for a moment, then he said: "Yeah, I do have one".

"What is it?", Vulpix asked excited.

"But I must be sure, that you two are 100% ready for this".

"We are always ready".

"Are you sure?".

"Yes".

"Really?".

"Yes".

"Are you absolutely sure, that you are absolutely sure?".

"Yes, we are!". Slowly, Charmander got angry.

"Are you as sure as you can be?".

"To hell with that! WE ARE ABSOLUTELY SURE! SO SURE, THAT "OH MY ARCEUS, I´ M SO SURE, THAT ONE CAN´ T BE ANY MORE SURE" WOULD LOOK UNSURE!".

Charmander yelled that last sentence.

"Alright, I shall give you your task then", Chatot said calmly. He didn´ t seem bothered by Charmanders yelling.

"What do we have to do?", Vulpix asked. She was very curious and excited about their next task.

"Alright you two have to explore a place called Destiny Meadow", Chatot explained. Charmander suddenly got a shocked expression. "Destiny Meadow…", he repeated in his mind. Then he remembered the nightmare he had last night.

"But I have to tell you one more thing", Chatot said. "Let me guess", Charmander interrupted, "Onix was found dead in his room in the hospital this morning". "Where by all the deities sakes do you know that from?", Chatot was suddenly stunned. "As I thought", Charmander thought, "that dream was not a nightmare, but a vision. A vision of what would happen in the future. Even though the reality is a little bit different, since I didn´ t see the thing with all guild members disappearing, but still… what if… there really is a creature that is after us? What should we do, if this parallel world really exists and that thing is there? I have to make a plan".

"Alright, then let us go", Vulpix snapped Charmander back to reality.

The two went to the place called Destiny Meadow. It looked exactly like in Charmander´ s dreams, it was dark and the trees were like skeletons. Standing still in a dead wasteland.

"This is horrible", Vulpix said, "I don´ t want to go in there". "We don´ t have to", Charmander said to her, "I, too, would prefer if we didn´ t". "Can we go back home?", Vulpix looked at Charmander with pleading eyes. Charmander nodded. Just as they were about to leave, a huge bird-like creature with wings made of steel grabbed Vulpix and dragged her away.

"Charmander, help me", she cried. "Vulpix!", Charmander shouted, as he fired a flamethrower at the bird. The Pokémon simply dodged the attack. "Haha, did you really think you can hurt me, the great Skarmory?", it asked, "if you want to save your little girlfriend here, come to Destiny Meadow and fight me for her! Hahahahahaha!". With this, the Skarmory flew over to Destiny Meadow, leaving a shocked and angry Charmander behind.

"I will save Vulpix, no matter what!", he said.

---

Vulpix sat in a cage. Skarmory was standing in front of her, looking down at her with merciless eyes.

"Seems like your boyfriend isn´ t coming", he said in a teasing manner. "He is not my boyfriend!", Vulpix said, "and he will come, I´ m sure of it". "Even if he manages to get to Destiny Meadow, he will be killed by the Murkrow army I control", Skarmory explained. "He will never arrive here. At least he won´ t be alive". "That isn´ t true!", Vulpix yelled at Skarmory. "He will make it, no matter how many Murkrow you send against him! He will make it and defeat you!". "Heh, now the last tiny bit of confidence is showing up in you, eh?", Skarmory chuckled. He didn´ t take Vulpix´ words serious.

"Lemme tell you something. Even if your boyfriend manages to get here, he´ s gonna be injured. And an injured Pokémon is not worth to be called a true opponent for me. He´ s gonna be owned badly!".

"Great, that guy uses slang!", Vulpix thought.

"Back to serious business", Skarmory said and looked at Vulpix with his cold eyes. "You and your dumb boyfriend were the ones who defeated my comrade and friend Onix. I shall never forgive you for doing that! And I also heard, that he is dead now, which will increase the punishment I have prepared for you!". "Wait!", Vulpix said. "Onix wasn´ t killed by us! He died from his injuries! Believe me!".

"As if I would believe you!", Skarmory said after a few seconds of thoughts. "You will perish here, and if your boyfriend arrives, you will perish together. That is, how true love works, girl!".

"Firstly, my name isn´ t "girl", secondly, Charmander isn´ t my boyfriend and thirdly, there isn´ t any feeling like love between us!". Vulpix suddenly got very angry.

Skarmory smirked. "You aren´ t quite in the position to talk to me like this. Remember where you are, and who´ s standing in front of you".

"I don´ t care anymore", Vulpix started crying, "go on and kill me. I´ m ready".

"If you want to…", Skarmory got his blade like wings ready to slash at Vulpix.

"If you lay a finger on her, I won´ t go easy on you!", a voice yelled.

"What?", Skarmory looked in the direction, from where the voice came. Charmander stood on top of a rock.

"Charmander!", Vulpix said happily.

"So it is the boyfriend of the vixen", Skarmory chuckled.

"If I were you, I wouldn´ t laugh", Charmander said. "I defeated those weaklings of Murkrows in no time!".

"That may be true, but", Skarmory spread his wings, "can you defeat me, the great Skarmory? Now that is my question to you!". "I will defeat you and save Vulpix!", Charmander yelled and charged at Skarmory with his Fire Punch. Skarmory dodged by flying up into the air. "Futile", he said and used Swift. Hundreds of star shaped beams moved towards Charmander at a really fast pace. Charmander was hit and stumbled backwards. But he wasn´ t ready to give up. He fired his Flamethrower in the air, hoping to get Skarmory while he was flying, but that was another futile attempt to defeat the steel bird. Skarmory charged at him with an Aerial Ace. Charmander tried to dodge, but Skarmory was too fast, so he tried to counter the attack with Flamethrower. It worked. Skarmory had to end his attack to dodge the flame. "Hmm, you are not bad", Skarmory said, "but will you make it?". He attacked with his most powerful move: Steel Wing. Skarmory´ s wings began glowing and he charged at Charmander.

Charmander was hit head on and was thrown into a rock, which broke from the power of the impact.

Charmander laid there, motionless.

Skarmory landed on the ground, chuckling.

Vulpix was crying. "Charmander… no…".

"See?", Skarmory said to Vulpix, "what did I tell you? I told you, he would be defeated by me".

"Charmander…", Vulpix sobbed. She couldn´ t take it anymore. She didn´ t want her best (and only) friend to leave her. She would rather be killed herself.

"Now for the finishing blow…", Skarmory turned to Charmander and let his wings glow again.

"Wait!", Vulpix cried. "What is it?", Skarmory asked. "Please don´ t kill him", Vulpix cried, "take me instead!". "How sweet", Skarmory chuckled again. "You want to die in your boyfriend´ s stead". "He is not my boyfriend", Vulpix said, "just go ahead and finish me off! I don´ t want to suffer anymore".

"You are denying them", Skarmory said, "your true feelings. Charmander will never get to know them!". Skarmory got his wing blades ready, as Charmander suddenly started to move.

Charmander stood up, heavily breathing. "I told you before…", he said, "… I won´ t let you hurt Vulpix". Suddenly, Charmander started to glow.

"What is this?", Skarmory asked, shocked. "Charmander… is evolving!", Vulpix answered, evenly shocked.

As the glowing ended, Charmander had evolved into a Charmeleon

Charmeleon was a bipedal, reptilian creature similar to Charmander. He had crimson scales that were much darker than that of the bright red Charmander. He had a tail with the tip burning with fire, a trait seen in many Fire-type Pokémon, especially the Charmander evolutionary line. His skull had developed a horn-like protrusion to the rear and his mouth has elongated into a snout. His front and back claws were far sharper and longer than Charmander´ s.

"Now Skarmory!", Charmeleon roared, "the real battle begins!".

To be continued-

**Author´ s notes: And that sums up this chapter. **

**Liked it? Then review. Didn´ t like it? Then… do whatever you want (besides writing bad things in your review, like this: "Your story is crap!") **

**Next up will be the battle between Skarmory and Charmeleon. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen.**

**- Shining4Charizard**


	9. Charmeleon VS Skarmory

**Author****´ s notes: Now is the time. I know, I was mean when I ended the last chapter without giving any clue of further plot. But that was intended by me. **

**Well, this is it. The long awaited battle. Enjoy this chapter.**

**Chapter 9: Charmeleon VS. Skarmory**

"So you evolved?", Skarmory asked, not very impressed by Charmander´ s new appearance.

Vulpix simply sat in her cage, mouth wide open. She was speechless.

"Pathetic", Skarmory flatly said, as he charged at Charmeleon, who didn´ t move an inch. Skarmory used his Drill Peck attack on him. Charmeleon suddenly jumped high into the air and fired his Flamethrower at the surprised steel-bird. Skarmory was hit head on and he collapsed to the ground. "What power", he said and stood up. While standing up, Charmeleon came down and attacked him with his Fire Punch. Skarmory dodged and used his Swift, which Charmeleon countered with his Flamethrower. The attacks collided and caused a massive explosion with a big smoke cloud following.

Charmeleon and Skarmory proceeded in their battle using close combat attacks (not the actual Close Combat, but attacks like Peck, Slash, Night Slash and so on).

As the smoke lifted itself, both Pokémon stood there, glaring at each other. They were heavily breathing. The battle seemed to exhaust both of them. But Skarmory seemed to have the upper hand. Charmeleon had a scratch over his belly, which caused him pain. However, Charmeleon tried to forget about the pain and charged at Skarmory, using his Fire Fang attack. He bit Skarmory with flames covering his teeth. He managed to get Skarmory´ s wing. The steel-bird tried to shake him off, but Charmeleon grasp was too strong.

Suddenly, Skarmory came up with an idea: Charmeleon was within reach for his Steel Wing attack. He used said attack and the wing smashed Charmeleon into the ground.

"As I said", Skarmory growled, "pathetic. Do YOU want to tell me, that just evolving helps to defeat me, the great Skarmory? If you thought that, you are really a stupid guy. Then again, you were stupid enough to come here, so it doesn´ t make any difference".

"Charmeleon…", Vulpix started to cry again, "please be alright".

Charmeleon opened his eyes, as Skarmory stepped on him and dug his claws into his back. Charmeleon cried in pain. "How does that feel?", Skarmory asked with an evil grin on his face, "is it a nice feeling, huh? Say something!". He tightened his grip, which made Charmeleon roar in pain.

"I can´ t take it", Vulpix hid her face with her paws and cried. She didn´ t want to see her partner suffer.

"Well, Vulpix", Skarmory said to the brown fox. "Take a look at him. It will be the last time you see your pathetic boyfriend. He came all the way here, just to be defeated by my superior power".

"No, that´ s not it", Vulpix finally spoke up, sobbing. "He came here to rescue me. He evolved for me. I felt it…".

"Yes, that is right", Charmeleon said, looking at his opponent. "And I definitely will rescue Vulpix. Because that is, what true friends do!". "Look at you", Skarmory replied. "What can you do in a situation like this? I have pinned you onto the ground. You can´ t move a muscle. What could you possibly do to me right now? I tell you the answer: Nothing!". "Are you sure about that?", Charmeleon smirked. He remembered the flame on the tip of his tail.

He swung his tail back and forth, creating embers, which flew in Skarmory´ s direction. "What?", he asked, shocked, as his wing started to burn. "What are you doing?". He released his grip on Charmeleon, who quickly stood up and attacked Skarmory, despite the pain he suffered.

The steel-bird was caught by surprise. Charmeleon attacked him with the most powerful Flamethrower he had used in his entire life as a Pokémon (which was not too long until now). Skarmory cried in pain, as the Flamethrower hit him head on. The steel-bird was engulfed by the flame and collapsed to the ground.

"Did I… do it?", Charmeleon asked, panting heavily. He was exhausted. The steel-bird in front of him didn´ t move anymore. Charmeleon had won the battle.

"Now I will free you", Charmeleon said to Vulpix as he walked over to the cage and used his razor-sharp claws to forcefully open it.

"Charmeleon", Vulpix jumped into her partner´ s arms and hugged him tightly. "Thank you for rescuing me. I´ m so glad. Charmeleon…".

"It´ s okay, Vulpix", Charmeleon smiled slightly. "It was a pleasure for me".

Vulpix jumped out of Charmeleon´ s arms and looked at him. She was impressed. Now he was about twice the size of his pre-evolved form. And not to mention much taller than she was. But that didn´ t bother her at all. She was just happy, that he was still alive.

"Now we can go home", Charmeleon suggested and Vulpix nodded.

The duo headed home but on their way, Charmeleon suddenly collapsed.

"Charmeleon", Vulpix was worried, "what happened. Are you alright?".

"Don´ t worry", Charmeleon replied, "I´ m just exhausted. The battle put a great strain on my body, you know".

"What can I do to help you?".

"Absolutely nothing…".

"Charmeleon, please. Don´ t play dumb with me, okay?".

"I´ m not fooling you". Charmeleon smiled weakly. His whole body felt numb. The injuries were greater, than he expected them to be.

"I´ ve got an idea", Vulpix suddenly said, opened the treasure bag, took an Oran Berry and handed it over to Charmeleon. He ate the berry and stood up. "Thank you", he said, "I´ m feeling much better!". "That is good", Vulpix smiled at him.

---

Later that night…

Vulpix and Charmeleon were in their room. Charmeleon was sleeping already and Vulpix thought about the events of today.

Everyone was surprised and shocked at the same time when they saw Vulpix coming back with the newly evolved Charmeleon. Chatot even asked if he took Vulpx hostage and wanted to get the guild´ s treasures. Vulpix tried to explain the situation, but no one listened until Wigglytuff interfered and let Vulpix explain. After Vulpix´ explanation, Wigglytuff proceeded to congratulate Charmeleon for his evolution, to which everyone followed with the same reaction.

"Charmeleon", Vulpix thought and looked at her partner. "I wonder if his evolution really had something to do with me. Did he really evolve just to rescue me? Or was it the right time for him? What, just what is the true reason behind this. I know, I said, he evolved to protect me, but… that is just happening in romance-centered stories about Pokémon. That would never be happening in real life. Never. Charmeleon… just how am I supposed to tell you?".

She continued to look at him. The shine of the moon made him handsome; she thought and blushed at that thought.

"How can I tell… that I love you?"

**Author´ s notes: Yes, I know it is short, but… I didn´ t have other ideas besides that. If you are disappointed, I´ m sorry. **

**Well then, see you next chapter!**

**- Shining4Charizard**


	10. The failure against a fiery legend

**Author´ s notes: Well, here is a new chapter! ****I hope you enjoy it.**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 10: The failure against a legend**

"Somebody´ s missing, or is it just me?"

This was Chatot´ s first question during the morning briefing. The guild members exchanged confused looks.

Charmeleon tried to figure out, who Chatot meant. "Let´ s see", he thought, as he looked at each member, "Chatot, Bidoof, Chimeco, Diglett, Loudred, Dugtrio, Croagunk, Corphish, Sunflora, Vulpix, me… that´ s all, I guess… wait! The guild master!".

"Erm, Chatot", he spoke up. "What is it, Charmeleon?", Chatot asked. "I think, the guild master is missing". "Oh, he´ s right", Dugtrio said. "Yes, HE is!", Loudred commented, as loud as ever. "Where in all holy things´ name is he?", Sunflora asked. "I guess, he´ s out to make new friends or something", Croagunk said with his dull and somewhat creepy voice. Bidoof´ s face turned dark blue. He was scared of the fighting toad.

"Anyway, let us get to work!", Chatot yelled and the guild cheered once again, before everyone went to do their respective tasks.

"Let us have a look at the bulletin board", Vulpix suggested. Charmeleon nodded and the two went towards the bulletin boards.

"Hey, who is that?", Charmeleon suddenly asked, as his gaze fell onto a female Pokémon, which looked somewhat humanoid with white skin, green hair and bright red eyes. The Pokémon seemed to wear a skirt.

"She´ s cute", Charmeleon thought loudly. Vulpix´ face turned bright red out of jealousy. "Ahem…", she said, trying to get Charmeleon to turn his attention towards her, but it was too late. Charmeleon wasn´ t by her side anymore. Instead, he stood in front of the female humanoid Pokémon and talked to it.

"Hey, who are you?", he asked the Pokémon as she turned around to look at him. At first, she was shocked by Charmeleon´ s appearance, standing a head taller than her. "I… I´ m Kirlia", she stuttered. "And what are you doing here? Are you part of an exploration team, too?", Charmeleon asked. "No, I´ m here, because it is my dream to join an exploration team, but I simply can´ t manage to", Kirlia slowly opened up. This Charmeleon guy seemed to be nice; she thought.

"Please don´ t ask her to join our team", Vulpix pleaded in her thoughts.

"Would you like to join our team?", Charmeleon asked. Vulpix fell anime-style.

"Yeah, I´ d love to", Kirlia answered with a happy smile on her face.

"She said ´love´?", Vulpix almost burst out with anger. Apparently, she didn´ t hear the complete conversation. "Charmeleon! What the hell are you doing!", she yelled out to her partner. "We´ ve got a job to do, so come on!" She grabbed Charmeleon´ s arm and dragged him away.

"What´ s wrong?", Charmeleon asked. "What are you doing? Simply asking this… I don´ t know who that is… to join our team, even though you don´ t know her? Do you really think that´ s alright?".

"I don´ t know, what you´ re worried about", Charmeleon said, shrugging, "I joined you, even though I didn´ t know you at all, remember? So I don´ t know your problem".

"Erm… can I join your team now?", Kirlia asked. "Yes, of course", Charmeleon said. Vulpix frowned. They walked towards the bulletin board and picked a job.

This mission required them to rescue a Caterpie in a place called Mt. Ember.

At Mt. Ember, it was like a volcanic cave. Lava was flowing everywhere and the road was made of rocks, which looked like they could break any second.

And as it turned out Kirlia´ s psychic powers came in very handy, so she had Charmeleon´ s approval, while Vulpix was as angry as hell.

"Will you stop?", she demanded angrily. "Stop what?", Kirlia asked in confusion.

Charmeleon already was ways ahead, so Vulpix took the opportunity to talk to her new "rival".

"What should I stop?", Kirlia asked again. "Am I doing anything bad to you?". Now Vulpix had it. She was finally at the limit of her self-control. "You are hitting on my love, you stupid *****bleep* (A/N: Sorry, but this word is too… well, you probably know which word that should have been). And don´ t tell me, you are not doing it, because that is, what you do! And don´ t deny it, for your own sake!".

"I honestly don´ t know what you are talking about", Kirlia said politely. "Don´ t play dumb with me", Vulpix said to her in a very seductive tone. "If you make moves on Charmeleon one more time, it will be the last thing you have done, got it?".

"Will you two stop talking and follow me already?", Charmeleon stood a few meters away from the girls and didn´ t look very happy.

"We´ re on our way", Vulpix said happily and went towards Charmeleon, but not before giving Kirlia an angry glare. Kirlia, completely confused by the ongoing situation, followed them.

"Here it is!", Charmeleon said about five minutes later. "Here is Caterpie. Don´ t worry, we´ ll get you out in no time!". "Yeah, leave it to us!", Vulpix cheered. The little green worm was stuck in a rock tomb, which seemed to have fallen down from the ceiling.

"Be careful", Caterpie said, "there is a veeeeery strong Pokémon somewhere around here". "What kind of Pokémon?", Charmeleon asked. "I only heard, that this Pokémon is known as one of the legendary Pokémon, who protect this world", Caterpie answered, as Charmeleon crushed one of the rocks. "Legendary Pokémon…", Charmeleon repeated in his thoughts.

"We don´ t have time to talk!", Vulpix interrupted, "we have to get Caterpie out of there and then go back to the guild!".

"Umm… may I help?", Kirlia asked. "Of course", Charmeleon said, "every help is welcomed!". Kirlia´ s eyes began glowing blue and some rocks began floating through the air. Kirlia waved her arm in one direction and the rocks went flying into this direction.

"Hey, if you keep this up, we´ ll be finished in no time", Charmeleon said happily to Kirlia and the two shared a chuckle, which made Vulpix as angry as hell (again).

Suddenly, one of the lava lakes came to life, as a fiery creature burst out of it. "That is Moltres!", Kirlia shrieked. The giant creature let out a roar, which was almost deafening.

Moltres took the form of a large bird with flame-coloured plumage, resembling a phoenix. Its dazzling wings and elaborate head crest appeared to be covered with flames. It had a straight, pointed brown beak, which was the same colour as its feet.

"What are you doing in my domain?", the giant bird asked. "You do not have the right to come here! So leave at once!". "Hey, calm down", Charmeleon said to the legendary bird, "we only want to rescue this little fellow, Caterpie, and then we will leave". "I cannot trust you!", Moltres was angry. "Anyone, who trespasses my domain, shall perish!".

"Wait a minute, please!", Vulpix pleaded. "It is already too late for you!", Moltres yelled and attacked Vulpix with its Wing Attack. The Wing Attacks of Zubat wouldn´ t have had any effect on Vulpix, but this one came from a legendary Pokémon. Vulpix was smashed into a wall and remained lying on the ground.

Charmeleon attacked the bird with his Flamethrower. It was a direct hit, but Moltres simply absorbed the fire.

"Ha, is that all you´ ve got?", the legendary Pokémon didn´ t take Charmeleons efforts serious. "I´ ll show you… what I call a real flame!". A huge blast of fire was released from Moltres´ beak. It moved straight towards Charmeleon.

"Wow", he said, "my Flamethrower probably looks pathetic compared to THIS!". The flames hit and Charmeleon was burnt. Even though he was a fire type himself, the flames did serious damage to him.

He was lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Are you alright?", Kirlia knelt down beside him and checked on his body. "YOU!", came an angry voice towards her. Kirlia looked behind her. Vulpix stood there with an angry look on her face. "HOW DARE YOU? I WARNED YOU!", she yelled and went straight forward to attack Kirlia with her Quick Attack.

"Sweet", Moltres said and smirked. "Now they are getting rid of each other. Well, but I don´ t want that!".

Kirlia barely dodged Vulpix´ sudden attack. At this moment Charmeleon stood up. "How can a fire-type… be so badly damaged by a fire move?", he asked. "Our opponent is one of the legendary Pokémon", Kirlia explained. "We don´ t stand a chance against someone like that".

"Your friend there is right", Moltres said. "You don´ t have a chance to survive this battle! Only a wonder could rescue you!".

"You little… I warned you!", Vulpix said to Kirlia, "don´ t hit on Charmeleon!". "We have better things to turn our attention to!", Kirlia shrieked as she noticed another huge blast of flames coming right towards them. "Get out of the way!", Charmeleon yelled and took the full blast for his friends. "CHARMELEON!!!", the girls yelled in unison.

Charmeleon was defeated. That last attack was too much for him.

"Charmeleon, are you okay?", Vulpix began crying. "He… saved our lives", Kirlia commented in disbelief. She never expected a Pokémon to go that far for its friends.

"Now, it´ s time to roast some girls!", Moltres yelled and spread his wings. "Normally, I won´ t hurt girls, but if they invade my territory, I will show no mercy for anyone!". An intense heat began to develop around Moltres.

"That is the Heat Wave!", the little Caterpie shrieked. "No one can withstand such a powerful move!". "What can we do?", Vulpix asked. "We have to escape somehow!", Kirlia said. "But how?". "I don´ t know!".

"Here, use this!", Caterpie said and threw a light blue orb towards Kirlia and Vulpix. "That´ s an Escape Orb", Vulpix said. "But, Caterpie…". "Don´ t worry about me!". Caterpie said. "I couldn´ t use it anyway, because no one taught me to use items… Besides that, I´ ll be fine here. Moltres won´ t hurt me. So make your escape!".

"Should we really...?", Kirlia asked Vulpix. "Let us get Caterpie out of here as well!", Vulpix suggested and went towards Caterpie. Kirlia had to carry Charmeleon, who was still unconscious, while Vulpix carried the Escape Orb.

"Please… bring us back home", she pleaded, "quickly".

"Now you´ re finished!", Moltres yelled and released the Heat Wave.

Luckily, the escape orb activated just in time. Vulpix and the others were teleportet out of Moltres´ domain only a few seconds before the Heat Wave hit.

---

Back at the guild, everyone was standing by Charmeleon´ s bed. He was fatally damaged.

"I hope he survives this...", tears welled up in Vulpix´ eyes.

"Me too...", Kirlia said with a sad tone in her voice.

Charmeleon still did not move an inch.

**Author´ s notes: And that´ s that! Sorry, for the somewhat late update, but this crappy school work got me all tied up, so I didn´ t have time to update. Well, see you next chapter!**


	11. Charmeleon s Revival

**Author´ s notes: Hello, here´ s another chapter of my story. ****I hope you enjoy it!**

**Distortion world strikes back chapter 11: Charmeleon´ s revival**

On top of Mt. Ember...

"How went the battle?", a black shadow of a huge, worm-like Pokémon asked.

"I almost finished them, but they used an escape orb and got out of here, before I could finish them off", the legendary bird, Moltres, answered.

"Hmph… so that´ s how it is, eh?", the black shadow said, "well, then you should rest a little, I will send one of your comrades".

"You mean…?", Moltres asked, shocked.

"Yes, exactly", the black shadow smirked. Or at least, it was hinted by his tone, because as it was a shadow, one couldn´ t have seen the face.

"The spy I sent to them has given me some information of their location, so…".

"I understand", Moltres said, "so you plan to annihilate them in their own home?".

"That is exactly what I planned". The black shadow disappeared, leaving the legendary fire-bird alone on top of his mountain.

---

"Okay, Pokémon! Let´ s get to work!". The guild members cheered and left to do their work, save for Vulpix. She was sitting there with trembling paws.

"What´ s wrong?", Chatot asked her.

"It´ s Charmeleon…", she answered, her tone hinting tears. "He still hasn´ t woken up".

"That´ s bad", Chatot said. "In that case you have to do your work alone now".

"That´ s what I wanted to tell you", Vulpix suddenly burst out, "I can´ t do my work properly, knowing that the one I lo--- err… I mean, my best friend and partner is in danger!"

"Why do girls have to be so difficult?" Chatot asked with an annoyed tone in his voice. "They put their feelings over anything else".

"Chatot…", Vulpix said, still holding back her tears. "Can I have the day off? I want to look after Charmeleon…"

Chatot frowned. "Well, if that is, what you want…" He rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, Chatot!" Vulpix said happily and rushed towards her room.

Charmeleon was still lying there, absolutely motionless.

"Oh Charmeleon...", Vulpix started crying. She didn´ t want to see her friend like this.

---

"Have you got more information for me?".

"Yes".

"Then tell me".

"Charmeleon currently isn´ t moving at all. He got hit by two of Moltres´ most powerful attacks".

"And to imagine, that he could be still alive... That boy´ s something".

"You´ re right, master. That´ s why we must crush him, before he finds out how to use his REAL power".

"If that happens, he will be a problem, even for me".

"And that´ s why we can´ t let that happen, right master?".

"Yes, that´ s right".

"When is the annihilation troop arriving?".

"They should arrive soon. I made sure, that commander Groudon won´ t attack you, even thought you are helping them".

"I´ m grateful".

"Heh, you play your roll exceptionally good. Keep this up".

"You can count on me, master Giratina".

"I hope so".

---

"Charmeleon...", Vulpix thought to herself, "if you were awake, I would tell you now... Or at least, try to tell you... I... I´ m happy, that you´ re my partner and friend. And I hope, that you aren´ t going to leave me this soon. Because I still couldn´ t manage to tell you, that I...".

Suddenly, a big bang could be heard from right outside the guild. Rocks were falling from the ceiling. Vulpix quickly rushed to the assembly hall, were the guild members were fighting some ground type Pokémon.

"What´ s going on?", she asked. "THEY ARE TRYING TO CRUSH THE GUILD!!!", Loudred yelled and defeated a Sandshrew with a Mega Punch attack. Sunflora was fighting two Rhyhorn.

Sandshrew was a ground-dwelling pangolin notable for its defensive capabilities. Its body was mostly covered in a dry, tough hide which was colored to blend in with the sands of the desert.

Rhyhorn kind of looked like a rhinozeros with pretty hard armor and a long horn on top of its nose.

"You shall disappear!", Wigglytuff yelled and blasted some Sandshrew out of the guild. Corphish followed them and attacked with his Bubble beam.

"WOW!!!", Loudred yelled, as one of the Rhyhorns suddenly evolved into a Rhydon, a bipedal version of Rhyhorn with a much longer horn and a very strong tail. The Rhydon smashed Loudred into one wall, wich broke down from the impact.

"It couldn´ t be any worse!", Chatot said. "Oh, yes it could", Chimeco replied flatly. "Why?", Chatot asked. "Because there is a giant red monster standing right outside the guild", Dugtrio said. He was covered in scratches. They were most probably from a fight with some Sandshrew.

"A giant red monster?", Vulpix asked. "That couldn´ be...".

Suddenly, the ceiling began breaking up and a giant Pokémon entered the guild.

It had red armor plating with a gray belly and sharp white spikes running from its head down to its tail. It had large sharp toenails.

The Pokémon let out a deafening roar. "I am Groudon!", it announced, "and you will be crushed, if you don´ t tell me, where Vulpix and Charmeleon are!".

"I´ m here!", Vulpix yelled to Groudon. "What do you want with me?". "My master´ s searching for you!", Groudon answered, "you will come with me, and I will spare your friends- if you refuse...". The giant Pokémon raised a claw. In that claw, he held Chatot. "This lttle fellow here will be no more".

"Okay, I´ ll go with you", Vulpix said, "just don´ t hurt anyone anymore, okay?". "That´s what I wanted to hear", Groudon smirked, "Sandshrew, Rhyhorn and Rhydon. Return to home, quickly!". The Pokémon immediately obeyed the giant Pokémon´ s order and retreated.

"Vulpix won´ t go anywhere!!!", a loud voice yelled. Everyone turned around to see the shadow of a tall dragon in the smoke clouds. "You...", Groudon began. "Charmeleon has...", Vulpix stared at the shadow in disbelief.

"Your feelings", the dragon said to Vulpix, "your feelings led to this evolution. I will win this battle! Just for you!". A powerful burst of flames removed the dust cloud and everyone could see the tall dragon.

"That´ s...", Groudon was stunned by the dragon in front of him. "That can´ t be...".

**Author´ s notes: Well, that´ s that. Can you guess, who that dragon was? Well, you´ ll see it in the next chapter! Peace out, guys!**

**- Shining4Charizard  
**


	12. Blast Burn

**Author´ s notes: Hello again. Here is a**** brand new chapter of my story. Now we slowly approach the critical phase, were as good as all secrets are revealed… after this little fighting-centered chapter. Enjoy reading and review right after that!**

**Distortion world strikes back chapter 12: Blast Burn**

"This evolution…", a tall dragon from a dust cloud announced, "… couldn´ t have happened without your feelings!!!". A powerful burst of flames blew the dust cloud away.

Everyone stared in awe at the tall orange dragon standing there. He had big and powerful wings, very sharp claws and a strong tail with a flame at the tip. At the back of his head, he had two hornlike protrusions. His eyes were ocean-blue in colour.

"So this is the evolved form of a Charmeleon?", Groudon asked, clearly not very impressed by the Charizard standing there, "the legendary dragon, Charizard?".

"Why is he called "legendary"?" Vulpix asked. "Because in this continent, very few Charizards could be seen. They are so few Charizards in this world, that they were considered legendary", Groudon explained, "I call them Wannabe-legendaries! Show me, what you got, Charizard!!!". Groudon let go off Chatot, who fell to the ground, and dashed towards Charizard, who flew up into the air, dodging Groudon´ s attack. He then used a flamethrower on the land rex and to everyone´ s surprise, the attack actually did some damage.

"Could this have happened because of my feelings for him?" Vulpix asked herself in her thoughts. "Is this really the "used to be human"-Pokémon I know and love?"

"Wigglytuff", Charizard yelled to the guild master. "Get everyone out of here. I will see, what I can do to distract Groudon, so you can escape!".

"Alright, friendly friend", the pink balloon-Pokémon agreed and gathered the guild members. They all tried to flee, but Groudon stopped them with a Rock Slide.

"You don´ t go anywhere!", he said. Because of the Rock Slide, the guild´ s roof was blasted open.

"I am your opponent!", Charizard roared to Groudon and attacked him with his newly learned Dragon Claw. The attack only hit the armor of Groudon, so it didn´ t do much damage.

"Crap, with that armor, I can´ t even faze him. I will have to think of something…", Charizard said in his thoughts.

Vulpix was staring at the ongoing battle from her place in the remaining ground of the guild. The guild was almost entirely turned to ruins. The land rex was standing tall in those ruins, while Charizard was flying above them.

"If I can´ t hit him, I will force him to the ground", Groudon thought and aimed his Solar Beam at Vulpix. "Now, have a taste of my devastating Solar Beam!!!", Groudon yelled and a very powerful beam of light came out of Groudon´ s mouth.

Vulpix closed her eyes, as the beam made its impact into the ground, where she was standing.

She reopened her eyes and saw Charizard lying right above her, with his wings embracing his body for guard. "Are you okay?", he asked her. She simply looked at him and nodded. Charizard smiled at her, stood up and glared angrily at Groudon.

"You are a coward!", he said, "attacking weaker Pokémon. I will never forgive you!!!". He used another new attack, the Fire Blast. A giant cross of fire burst out of his mouth and went flying towards Groudon. The giant Pokémon was hit and stumbled back a bit.

"To think you could possibly defeat me with an attack like this", Groudon laughed at Charizard. "Wait, until you see my next attack!!!". He ducked down and rose up again. A powerful burst of magma came out of his body. The entire ground was melted down to rocks.

"What?!?", Charizard asked in shock. He quickly flew upwards to dodge the attack, but forgot about Vulpix. She was still standing there, not knowing, what she should do.

"Oh no", Charizard thought, "she will be melted together with the rocks, if I don´ t do something". He flew downwards again, picked up Vulpix and fired another Fire Blast at Groudon, who swiped the attack away with one claw.

"I see you survived the Eruption", Groudon said, "but will you survive this?". His mouth opened and a golden energy ball was forming in it.

"What is that attack?", Charizard asked. "That is…", Vulpix began, but Groudon already fired the attack, the devastating Hyper Beam! Charizard was hit head-on and fell to the ground.

He landed between some rocks.

Vulpix opened her eyes. Charizard was lying motionless in front of her.

"Charizard!", she cried, "please, wake up! Charizard! CHARIZAAAAAARD!!!!".

"That´ s that", Groudon said, smirking, while approaching Vulpix and her unconscious friend. "He didn´ t stand a chance against me right from the beginning. You should give up and come with me, unless you want your beloved partner to die!".

"I… will come with you…", Vulpix said with tears in her eyes. She walked slowly towards Groudon, shooting glances at Charizard, which made her cry more. She hoped that he would rise up any second now and defeat Groudon for good. But none of that happened. Charizard remained lying there, not moving at all.

"Charizard", Vulpix said in her thoughts, "maybe it wouldn´ t have come to this, if I never met you… maybe I… am the one, who´ s responsible for this… I… suggested, that we formed an exploration team, I was the one, who needed to be rescuing from that Skarmory, I was the one, who was jealous of Kirlia, which was the cause of our loss against Moltres… I… did everything wrong… I… don´ t deserve to be your partner…". She started crying again.

"No… that´ s wrong", a voice said to her in her thoughts, "you… did everything right. Just because of you, I had evolved into what I am now… and I will never leave you behind… I… will protect you… even if it costs my life!"

Suddenly, Charizard opened his eyes and stood up. "I… will protect you", he said and started glowing bright red.

"What´ s that?", Groudon asked, shocked by what he saw in front of him.

---

Not too far away, the guild members were standing on top of a cliff, overlooking Treasure Town. They could clearly see, what was going on.

"What is Charizard DOING?" Loudred asked.

"I think he´ s gonna use the attack, that makes his species so special", Wigglytuff explained.

"And that would be…?", Chatot asked.

"The legendary ultimate attack", Wigglytuff answered, "Blast Burn!!!".

"WHAT?!?" the entire guild seemed to be shocked by Wigglytuff´ s mere statement, that Charizard was about to use Blast Burn.

"But Guild master…", Chatot spoke up, "even among the Charizard´ s, Blast Burn is an attack, that very few could achieve. Many of them tried but could never manage to".

"And that´ s another reason, why Blast Burn is considered legendary", Wigglytuff explained, "it has its drawbacks, however".

"And those drawbacks are…?", Chimeco asked.

"The attack always uses the same amount of energy, no matter how much energy the user has left", Wigglytuff explained. "That means, if you are in a weakened state, Blast Burn is a very risky attack. Furthermore, it takes a while until the user can move again after using the attack".

"That last part reminded me of Hyper Beam…", Dugtrio said.

"It sort of is a Hyper Beam", Wigglytuff answered, "but it´ s much, much stronger…".

---

Charizard let out a roar and a huge explosion enveloped the area they were in. Charizard grabbed Vulpix, before she could be damaged by the attack. The Blast Burn set everything within reach on fire. Even the legendary Groudon couldn´ t dodge the attack and he was hit at point-blank range.

After the explosion settled down, Charizard landed with Vulpix in his arms. Groudon was lying there, absolutely motionless. Suddenly, a dimensional hole appeared and sucked Groudon in.

"It´ s over", Vulpix said. Charizard nodded. Vulpix jumped out of his arms. "It´ s all thanks to you", she said. "I couldn´ t have done that without you", Charizard said, breathing heavily.

"You should rest for now", Vulpix suggested. Charizard nodded again, laid down on the ground and quickly fell asleep.

"You are full of surprises, Charizard", Vulpix thought to herself, "maybe this is why… I love you".

**Author´ s notes: Yes, I know. Blast Burn isn´ t more powerful than Hyper Beam. In this story it is. And if some of you are wondering, why Charizard is considered legendary: his species is almost extinct here. **

**So, with that said: Next chapter has a new revelation, so stay tuned!**

**- Shining4Charizard**


	13. It s because we are a team

**Author´**** s notes: Hey guys! Next week, there are the final exams for me, so it´ s most likely, that the next update has to wait a while. Well anyway, I wanted to publish this, before I go into the phase of learning. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 13: It´ s because we are a team…**

It´ s been three weeks since Groudon attacked the guild. The guild members have rebuilt their home with the help of some other Pokémon.

One morning, at the briefing…

"Well, we have finished the rebuilding of our home", Chatot announced proudly. "And now, everyone can do their respective tasks again. However, there is one exception".

"Who?", Sunflora asked curiously. "It´ s Team Blaze", Chatot answered. "Why?", Chimeco asked. "Officer Magnezone has decided, that those two can´ t be members of our guild, because it seems like there´ s someone after them. They are putting us in danger. Those were Officer Magnezone´ s words".

Everyone in the guild was shocked by this statement. "Those two are… not allowed to be with us?", Dugtrio stared at Chatot in disbelief. "Officer Magnezone said, that it would be the best for them and for our safety", Chatot explained. One could clearly see that he wasn´ t ready to believe this as well.

"What do they do then?", Bidoof asked. "They are currently on their way towards a safer place to live", Wigglytuff explained. "With Charizard´ s newfound flying ability, they should be alright". "I´ m still worried", Chimeco said. "Hey, hey", Corphish was protesting, "just what does that Magnezone think? Banishing those two into exile?". "They were our FRIENDS!!!", Loudred yelled.

"I will miss them as much as you do", Chatot said, sadly.

---

"It´ s been a while".

"Yes, master".

"Did everything go like planned?".

"Not totally. Groudon was defeated by Charizard".

"So he evolved at last…".

"But I have good news as well".

"What good news?".

"They were banished into exile. Now we can get rid of them, without getting noticed".

"Sounds like a good plan…".

"As soon as they take their next break, I will contact you…".

"I hope so…".

---

"How far do we want to go from now on?", Charizard asked Vulpix, who was sitting on the edge of a cliff. "I don´ t know", she answered. They were on top of a high mountain.

"What´ s wrong?", Charizard asked and positioned himself next to her. She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"I simply don´ t understand… why everyone else… did this to us".

"That was for our own sake, Vulpix". Charizard tried to comfort Vulpix, but it didn´ t help.

"It was my dream to be part of an exploration team", she started to cry. "But now… I´ m banished to exile, just because someone´ s after us…".

"Come to think of it", Charizard looked, as if he noticed something. "The Skarmory, that held you hostage, said, that this Onix we defeated earlier was his friend. And it seemed as if Moltres and Groudon knew about those incidents, especially Groudon. He told you to come with him, Moltres wanted to kill us and Skarmory held you captive".

"And Skarmory was Onix´ comrade", Vulpix got Charizard´ s idea.

"That means, they have something to do with each other!", they both said at the same time.

"And there has to be someone controlling them", Charizard said, his voice trailing off. He was thinking of his dream about the Pokémon in the other dimension.

"You´ re right", Vulpix said. "Is there still anything wrong with you?", Charizard asked. He noticed that Vulpix was still sad.

"Yes, there´ s something I wanted to ask you…" she said. "What do you want to ask me?"

"Why… are you protecting me all the time? Why… are you doing this for me? Why are you putting your own life in danger, just so you can protect me? Why? Please tell me!". She yelled the last part and was immediately regretting it. "Sorry for yelling at you…" she added.

Charizard´ s face got a serious look. He didn´ t say anything for a while.

"Are you mad at me?", Vulpix asked sadly. "No", Charizard shook his head. "You want to know, why I´ m protecting you, even at the risk of my life?" Vulpix nodded. "It´ s because… we are a team", Charizard said. "And… as a team… we have to work together… so, it´ s only natural, that I protect you". "Is it just because we are a team… that we have to work together?" Vulpix sounded disappointed as she asked this.

"To tell you the truth…", Charizard answered, "it´ s not the only reason. I… protect you because you were there for me right from the beginning. I… lost my memory and… was in a completely new world. And you helped me… integrating into this world".

Vulpix blushed at that statement. "You…", Charizard continued, "even though I can´ t remember anything from my time as a human… there´ s one thing, that´ s for sure: You are the most precious person to me in my entire life". Vulpix blush was strengthening. She almost spoke out **the **three words. "Don´ t say it!" she told herself in her mind.

"Now you know why… I am doing all this for you" Charizard said and stared in the sky.

Neither of them said anything.

"Hello, guys", a voice called out to them.

"What is it, Kirlia?", Charizard asked, turning around to face his humanoid friend. "I have prepared our food", she answered. "Come on. Let´ s eat".

"I must admit… I´ m hungry…", Vulpix said. "Me too…", Charizard said with a growling belly. "Flying all the time sure makes you hungry".

"Kirlia, this food is great", Charizard said after tasting the salad of berries. "Thank you", Kirlia said. "Charizard´ s right", Vulpix said, "your cooking is great". She was cursing Kirlia for being a good cook and taking Charizard´ s attention again.

After dinner, Charizard and Vulpix quickly fell asleep, while Kirlia hid behind a big rock. She had a sad look on her face.

Suddenly, a black shadow with crimson red eyes appeared before her.

"You let me waiting", the shadow said, "So, how is it going?". Kirlia hesitated a bit and said: "They are both asleep". "Very well… then we can kill them in their sleep".

"Please wait", Kirlia pleaded.

"Wait for what?", the shadow asked. "Don´ t tell me you have developed feelings for him?"

Kirlia nodded slightly.

"Then I have no further use for you…" the shadow said. "I will send HIM to exterminate all of you".

"What?!?" Kirlia looked very shocked. "You don´ t mean to… kill me, do you?" Of course I do", the shadow said. "You have developed feelings for Charizard and that usually leads to betraying. I will tell that to him and then… your time has come".

"But… master Giratina", Kirlia said.

"No buts!", Giratina roared. "He is already on his way. He´ ll arrive at sunrise. Best of luck…". Giratina, the black shadow vanished from Kirlia´ s view.

"What happened…?", Kirlia was completely stunned, went back to their resting place, laid down on her bed, which was made out of moss, and fell asleep. This was the most frightening time of her entire life. She knew one thing: tomorrow her life would come to an end.

Charizard and Vulpix were already asleep and completely oblivious to what Kirlia had been through.

The next morning…

Charizard was the first one to wake up. "Good morning", he said, yawning. Vulpix stretched her legs and jumped around to wake herself up. Kirlia stood up. Her face had a very scared look. Charizard noticed this.

"Hey, why are you looking so scared?" he asked. "I had a nightmare", Kirlia lied. She knew that she would be kicked out of the team if she told them the truth.

"More importantly", Vulpix said, pointing towards the east. A giant flying creature was approaching. "Look at this!", Vulpix said.

The creature approaching was a very large Pokémon which had a resemblance to something between a dragon, a plesiosaur, and a bird. It was primarily pale silver-white, but had a blue underside. It had a long slender neck and its body was smooth and streamlined, with the exception of dark blue or black spike-like protrusions which ran down the length of its back, and two smaller ones on the end of its tails. It had large wings that resembled hands.

The Pokémon stopped in flight over Vulpix and her friends. It looked at them and did nothing for now.

"Who are you?", Charizard asked. "I am Lugia!", the silver creature said and flapped its wings. "I am here to end your worthless lives!". "Not again!", Vulpix screamed. "Oh no…" Charizard said. "So that is the most powerful being in Giratina´ s army?", Kirlia asked in her thoughts, "impressive".

"Why is everyone after us?", Vulpix asked. "It´ s because you are in the way of our master´ s plan!" Lugia answered. "What plan?" Charizard asked. "What master?" Vulpix added.

"Why aren´ t you asking her?" Lugia asked and looked at Kirlia. "What? Why?" Charizard asked.

"Okay… I will tell you the truth about me, Lugia, Groudon, Skarmory and every enemy you two faced…" Kirlia said. "We are all… members of an army called: Distortion world army. We obey the commands of our master Giratina. Every Pokémon that attacked you since you formed your exploration team was a member of that army. Onix and Skarmory were higher members; you could see them as commanders. Groudon, Moltres and Lugia are the second in-commands. Lugia here is the most powerful and the most loyal out of the three. And I was… sent to your team as a spy. Giratina didn´ t want you here, because he somehow felt, that you could be threats for his plans". Kirlia started to cry.

"Is that true?", Charizard stared at Kirlia in disbelief. "So every opponent we faced was…? And you were…?".

"She is telling the truth", Lugia interrupted. "Her task was to spy on you. Or how else could Groudon attack you at home?".

"So Kirlia gave you the information of our location?" Vulpix asked. "And then… Groudon led his army to our home and completely destroyed it?" Lugia nodded. "Unbelieveable", Charizard said. "How could you fool us like this?". He was angry at Kirlia, who still cried.

"Yes, it´ s true…", Kirlia said. "I was sent to spy on you, but I have changed. I have developed a bond of friendship with you and… Charizard… I love you. I regret what I did. Please forgive me". "Wait a minute!" Charizard said, "did you just say, you… love me?". Kirlia nodded. Vulpix´ mouth gaped open.

"Enough talking!", Lugia roared. "Now, the time for your extermination is here!". He fired a Hydro Pump from his mouth. Charizard could barely dodge the attack. "Leave him to me!" he said. "You two, hide somewhere safe!". Vulpix and Kirlia nodded and hid behind a rock.

"Interesting", Lugia said. "Let´ s make this an aerial battle!". "I´ m in!" Charizard said.

"How could you tell him that?" Vulpix stared angrily at Kirlia. "But it´ s true…" she replied. "That doesn´ t matter" Vulpix looked very angry. "He´ s mine, got it?". Kirlia nodded and said "I truly am sorry for what I did to you". "That doesn´ t matter", Vulpix said, "what matters now is, that we survive!". "I guess you´ re right".

Charizard fired a flamethrower at Lugia, who simply flew out of the way and then used Hydro Pump. Charizard dodged the attack and then he attacked Lugia with a Slash attack. Lugia countered it with his Wing Attack. Charizard was smashed into a wall by this attack. Lugia´ s wings were harder than steel. "I got you!", Lugia roared and fired another Hydro Pump at Charizard. Just as the attack was about to hit, Charizard vanished and got Lugia from behind with his Dragon Claw. The legendary Pokémon was hit and turned around.

Both stared at each other and prepared their next attacks.

**Author´ s notes: Well, that´ s that. I hope you guys liked it. Well, from now on, there will be a new feature: The name of the next chapter will be posted into the author´ s note at the end, so read that as well XD**

**The next chapter: VS. Lugia 1 – Eternal danger**


	14. VS Lugia 1 Eternal danger

**Author****´ s notes: Hello, now the really long battle starts. Well then, I present you the 14****th**** chapter of this story! Have fun!**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 14: VS. Lugia 1 – Eternal danger**

"Well I hope you can withstand water!", Lugia yelled and fired a Hydro Pump at Charizard, which he dodged. "Here´ s the backfire!", Charizard announced and used Fire Blast on his legendary opponent. "Fool", Lugia said smirking. He used Protect and completely blocked Charizard´ s attack.

"I hope, Charizard can win this", Kirlia said sadly. Vulpix stared at her for a while, then she nodded. "You´ re right", she said. "I believe in him. He can do it!". Kirlia nodded and both of them turned their attention back towards the ongoing battle.

Lugia punched Charizard with his wing. Charizard was thrown into the side of a rock pillar. "I´ m wondering how someone as pathetic as you are could have possibly given Groudon hard times like this", Lugia said, clearly making fun of Charizard. "That proves the theory, that Groudon is pathetic as well!" Lugia charged up and fired a very powerful Hyper Beam, which seemed to be more destructive than Groudon´ s. He aimed it directly at the pillar, where Charizard was. The pillar was blasted to pieces, which fell down into the valley. There was no sight of Charizard.

"Charizard!", Vulpix yelled, worried about her partner. "I hope, the Hyper Beam didn´ t hit him". "We have to help him", Kirlia suddenly said.

"What?".

"If he fights all alone, he will never win! He can´ t possibly win in battle against Giratina´ s right hand. We have to help him!"

"But Charizard told us to hide!"

"I know, but… I you really have feelings for him, you have to help him, even though he said something else!"

"Kirlia…"

"Now, do you want to be a weakling, who leaves a friend behind? Or do you want to be a hero, who helps his friends?"

"I… won´ t run away!"

"That´ s the spirit!"

The two did a handshake as a sign of their newfound friendship, and then they jumped out of their hiding place and attacked the giant silvery dragon.

Vulpix used her Flamethrower, while Kirlia used her Psychic attack. The Psychic attack strengthened the flames and made them possible to be directly aimed at the legendary Pokémon.

Lugia was hit head on by this combination and he was engulfed in flames. "Pathetic", the legendary Pokémon simply said and did a slashing motion with his wings. The psychic Flamethrower was torn apart and in the process nullified.

"It didn´ t work!" Vulpix yelled.

"Oh, yes it did!", a voice yelled and Charizard crashed with all his power into Lugia. The giant flying Pokémon was thrown back. Charizard quickly followed and used his Blast Burn attack at point blank range. Lugia roared in pain and fell into the valley, engulfed by a huge amount of flames.

Charizard floated in the air, panting slightly. "Charizard!" Vulpix cried over to him. "You did it!". Charizard smiled at her and said: "Thank you".

Suddenly, the legendary Pokémon rose up again and hit Charizard with his Steel Wing attack. His body was covered in bruises. "Pathetic…", he mumbled. "You are a pathetic Pokémon, if you think you can get me with attacks like this!". Suddenly, Lugia´ s entire body started glowing and all scratches and bruises disappeared.

"Oh no" Kirlia said. "That´ s Recover!"

"But I´ ll give you one point, boy", Lugia said to a completely stunned Charizard. "You were my first opponent after Giratina, who forced me to use Recover. I´ ll give you that. But now playtime´ s over! Take this!"

Lugia spread his wings and charged up another attack. Suddenly, wind began blowing from all directions.

"What´ s happening?" Vulpix asked Kirlia, who was completely shocked by Lugia´ s actions. "That can´ t be happening" she said. "That just isn´ t possible!" "What is it?", Vulpix asked. "This… is Lugia´ s most powerful attack" Kirlia started to explain. "Nobody survived this before. And Charizard can´ t move now. This battle´ s lost".

"Fear the power of my ultimate special attack!" Lugia yelled and fired a lance-shaped beam of energy combined with wind at Charizard, who couldn´ t move at all because of his use of Blast Burn.

"It´ s like I feared!" Kirlia said. "That´ s the Aero Blast!". "Aero Blast?" Vulpix asked. Kirlia nodded. Vulpix started in fear, shock and worry at Charizard, who couldn´ t dodge Lugia´ s ultimate attack.

Charizard was hit and thrown through a stone pillar, which collapsed from the impact and after that right into another one. The attack ended, as Charizard was halfway through this second pillar.

"Now have a taste of my infinite rage and hatred!" Lugia said after his attack.

"No, that can´ t be…" Vulpix started to cry. "Why is this always happening to him? Why? I… I don´ t understand…"

"Vulpix…" Kirlia looked at Vulpix with a worried look on her face. "So she really loves him this much", she thought, "that´ s why she was angry at me back then. She thought I would be taking him away from her… I… didn´ t think she would feel this much for him".

"If only I were stronger" Vulpix cried, "I could have protected him. But now…"

"Vulpix", Kirlia said.

"What is it?"

"Here, take this", Kirlia gave Vulpix a crimson red stone with an orange and yellow coloured symbol, which resembled a flame, on it. "It´ s a fire stone. Giratina told me to hide it from you, but I´ m no longer Giratina´ s servant, so take it".

"And that isn´ t any kind of trick?".

Kirlia shook her head. Vulpix tried to take the stone from Kirlia, but upon touching it, she started glowing. Three more tails began growing, her fur turned golden and her entire body was more slender than before.

"I evolved into a Ninetails!" the fox-Pokémon said happily. "Thank you, Kirlia".

"Now, someone has evolved over here?", Lugia asked, not very impressed.

"Charizard", Ninetails thought, "it´ s my turn now. I hope you watch me!". She spread her tails and a ghostly blue flame was forming at the tip of each tail.

"Fox Illusion Flame (A/N: Yes, own attack)", Ninetails said and the flames began floating towards Lugia.

"What?" Lugia asked, as the flames combined themselves into a blue fire dragon, which was about ten times taller than the legendary Pokémon itself. The dragon attacked Lugia, who was unable to dodge the attack.

"Impressive", Lugia said. "But how do you manage to withstand this?" Lugia fired a Hydro Pump at Ninetails, who concentrated herself and managed to build up a magic shield. "I call this", Ninetails said, "my Fox Tail Shield!"

"Vulpix got pretty strong after her evolution", Lugia thought. "Is this the power Giratina feared? And if so, shouldn´ t Charizard have a similar power?".

"Do you give up?" Ninetails asked. Lugia let out a laugh. "Do YOU really think, I, Lugia, am going to give up to weaklings like you? I´ ll show you my real power!". Suddenly, storm clouds were forming in the skies.

"What´ s happening?" Ninetails asked. "Lugia has the power to control the wind and the storms", Kirlia explained, "but he never actually used this power! He must really mean it. He really is trying to destroy us".

Suddenly, Charizard landed next to Ninetails.

"You are alive", Ninetails cried happily and hugged her partner, "I´ m glad to see you safe".

"I´ m pretty badly injured", Charizard explained, "my power is falling rapidly. I don´ t think I can battle much longer. But I will defeat Lugia with you". "Charizard, please don´ t overdo it", Ninetails said to him. "I won´ t, promise", Charizard said, calming Ninetails down. "We have better things to discuss now", Kirlia said.

"You´ re right", Charizard said, "let´ s take this silvery creature down!" "Yeah", the girls cheered.

"So you learned how to work together, eh?" Lugia said with a slight chuckle. "Not a chance".

"Lugia, wait", Ninetails suddenly spoke up. "What do you want?", Lugia asked. "Why… have you sided with Giratina?" Ninetails asked. "What?", Lugia was surprised by Ninetails´ question. "Yes, I want to know… what is your reason to join someone, who wants to destroy the world? A world you, as a legendary Pokémon, are supposed to protect? Why are you doing this?".

"Because… I gave up this world a long time ago…", Lugia´ s tone changed from an evil tone to a sad tone.

"Why have you given up the world?" Ninetails asked.

Lugia remembered something, which happened in his past. He saw a Chikorita. And he saw sorrow, sadness and war.

**Author´ s notes: Thought I cut it up here, because I want to create a little suspense. Well, I hope you liked it. See you next chapter, which is going to be named: VS. Lugia 2 – The reason to fight.**

**-Shining4Charizard**


	15. VS Lugia 2 The reason to fight

**Author´ s notes: That´ s an early update, I know. ****I really have the inspiration now. Hooray!!**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 15: VS. Lugia 2 – The reason to fight**

"Why are you fighting on Giratina´ s side?" Ninetails asked.

Lugia stared at the trio. He was somewhat surprised to hear such a question. "I… have two reasons to fight alongside Giratina", Lugia started to explain.

"Two?" Charizard asked surprised. Lugia nodded. "The first one was something that happened about the time of creation. Arceus and the other legendaries feared the power of my wings, which could crush a steel-type Pokémon´ s bones with just one single flap. So they decided to banish me into the ocean, with the task of protecting it. I was really angry at them. I was so angry, that my heart closed itself a few weeks later. I didn´ t really have any emotion after that. And for my second reason… that will take a little longer".

"We can live with that", Charizard said, "just tell us". "Why am I telling you, anyway?" Lugia suddenly got angry. "That´ s none of your business!" He fired a Hydro Pump at the trio, which they dodged.

"Wait, Lugia", Kirlia said to the legendary creature. "We want to hear your story, because we want to know your second reason as well. Maybe we can help you". "Yeah", Ninetails and Charizard said.

"Well then, I´ ll tell you", Lugia said and started to explain.

(A/N: What comes now is what happened in Lugia´ s past. I won´ t write it in Lugia´ s point of view, because writing in someone´ s point of view is difficult for me)

_It was a dark and stormy night. Lugia was swimming in the ocean like usual. Suddenly, he heard cries for help. Lugia swam towards the source and saw a drowning female Chikorita, a plant-Pokémon, which looked like a small dinosaur. She had a huge leaf on her head, which could cover her entire back. _

"_Help me", she cried, "somebody, please help me!"_

_Lugia rose up from the sea with a water tornado around him. Chikorita was startled by the huge Pokémon, who took her to his island. The Chikorita lost consciousness on their way._

_The Chikorita woke up with a tired groan and looked around. She was at the coast of a deserted island. Lugia was standing next to her, looking at her with a slight smile on his face to show Chikorita that he wasn´ t dangerous._

"_Are you awake?" Lugia asked. "Good thing I found you. In this storm, you would be dead right about now". "Thank you for rescuing me", Chikorita said and stared at the giant Pokémon, which was about ten times her size, if not even more. _

"_You don´ t have to be afraid", Lugia said to her. "I am Lugia, the guardian of the sea. And who are you?". "My name is Chikorita", Chikorita introduced herself. "I live on another island very far from here". "How did you get in the ocean?", Lugia asked. "It´ s weird for a grass-type like you to swim…" "The thing is", Chikorita said, slightly embarrassed, "I can´ t swim, but I wanted to try it, so I jumped into the water. When the storm came, I was washed out to the ocean. That´ s why I was there". "Should we look for your parents?" Lugia asked. "I´ m sure they´ re worried about you". "Yay", Chikorita cheered. Lugia lowered his head, so Chikorita could jump on it. Lugia spread his wings and took off. _

_He went in the directions, where Chikorita said he should go. About two days later, the two arrived at an island with a small village. But the village was completely destroyed._

"_What happened here?" Lugia asked. Chikorita simply looked around with a terrified look on her face. _

"_Mom, Dad!" she called, but no response was heard. "I´ m sorry to say, but I think your parents are no more", Lugia said. Chikorita started crying. _

"_Chikorita", Lugia muttered. _

_He noticed a Krabby walking by. "Hey you", Lugia called out to the Krabby, who quickly walked over to Lugia, as he saw who talked to him. "What is it?" the crab-like Pokémon asked. "What happened here?" Lugia asked. "Where are all the Pokémon, which lived here?". _

"_They were all exterminated", Krabby explained. "This island is needed for other purposes. I don´ t know what purposes, though. I only know that some legendary Pokémon were the planners of this". _

_With hearing this, Lugia´ s rage reached its limit. He hated the other legendary Pokémon from the bottom of his heart. He let out a roar, which startled both Krabby and Chikorita. _

"_Lugia, don´ t be like this", Chikorita pleaded. Lugia calmed down. "You will live with me", Lugia said friendly to Chikorita. "I won´ t let something like this happen again". _

_From then on, Chikorita lived with Lugia, but she wasn´ t willing to eat anything. That was a very worrying thing for Lugia. One morning, he noticed, that Chikorita was lying there, doing nothing._

"_Chikorita?" Lugia asked. "What´ s wrong?". "Mom… Dad…" the little Pokémon muttered. "She is… missing her parents", Lugia thought. "Lugia…", Chikorita said weakly. "What?" Lugia asked. "Thanks for being there for me the whole time", Chikorita said, her voice getting weaker. "But my time has come. I think I won´ t live much longer. Please Lugia, take this. I made it for you". She handed Lugia a small pendant. "It´ s my way to say thank you", Chikorita said with a weak smile. "Farewell…". Chikorita fell silent for ever._

_Lugia started crying. "Why… did this have to happen?" he asked to the skies. "Why… is this world like this? The other legendary Pokémon…". Lugia´ s sadness soon turned into nothing but rage and hatred. He let out a roar, which caused a huge storm over his island. _

"_So you hate this world?" a voice called out to him. "Who´ s there? Show yourself", Lugia demanded. "If you want to…", the voice said and in front Lugia appeared a dragon-like Pokémon with six legs and black wings, which had three red thorns each. _

"_Who are you?", Lugia asked. "I am Giratina", the dragon introduced himself. "I hate this world as much as you do. Come with me and together, we will build a new world, where things like this cannot happen. This old world is pathetic, to say the least. We have to get rid of it". Lugia didn´ t say anything. "You want to avenge Chikorita´ s death, don´ t you?" Giratina asked. "And the other legendary Pokémon are responsible for this, right? So you don´ t have a reason to mistrust me, because I hate the other legendary Pokémon as well". _

"_How do you know I hate them?" Lugia asked. "I heard about someone being banished into the far oceans for being too powerful by the other legendary Pokémon", Giratina explained. "So you and me… we both share the same fate. I was banished into another dimension and you into the ocean". "If you were banished into another dimension, why are you standing before me?", Lugia asked. "The me here is just a copy", Giratina said, "I´ m not able to get out of my dimension. But I have a question: Will you join me?"_

_Lugia stared at Giratina, then at Chikorita´ s dead body. Then he nodded. Giratina smirked evilly. _

"And that´ s how I joined forces with Giratina", Lugia finished his story.

"So you really think destroying everything solves your problem?" Charizard asked angrily. "Do you really think this is, what Chikorita wanted you to do after her death?" He attacked Lugia with a Flamethrower. Lugia dodged the attack and fired a Hydro Pump at Charizard, who dodged it.

"Lugia", Charizard said. "Chikorita loved you like you were her real father. She was sure, that you would do the right thing and continue protecting those in trouble! But you did the opposite. If Chikorita were alive now, she would be heartbroken, I´ m sure of it".

Lugia was shocked and looked below him.

"Ninetails, Kirlia", Charizard said to his friends. The two nodded and immediately got what Charizard wanted.

"Lugia", he said. "Let´ s finish this!".

He prepared a Blast Burn attack and fired it at Lugia. Ninetails used her Fox Illusion Flame and infused the Blast Burn with it. Kirlia followed with her Psychic attack. The new attack was enveloped in a blue light.

"We call this…", Charizard announced. "Ultimate Flaming Spirit Blast!". Lugia was engulfed by the attack and fell to the ground. He was defeated.

"We did it", Ninetails and Kirlia cheered. "No…", Charizard said. "What?" Ninetails asked. "Lugia… we haven´ t defeated him", Charizard said. "He MEANT to get hit by this". "You mean…?" Kirlia begun, but Charizard finished her sentence: "… he lost on purpose".

Ninetails and Kirlia were shocked to hear Charizard´ s statement. "But why?", Ninetails asked.

Lugia slowly stood up.

"Are you alright?" Charizard asked. Lugia used Recover and nodded.

"Why did you loose this battle on purpose?" Ninetails asked. "Because I realized, that this wasn´ t what Chikorita would have wanted", Lugia answered. "You three have opened my eyes and made me realize my mistakes. Sorry for attacking you like this".

"It´ s okay", Kirlia said smiling. "Hey, did you notice?", Ninetails asked. "Noticed what?", Charizard asked back. "It´ s like the wind… has blown away all ill feelings", Ninetails said, commenting at the small breeze which was now blowing in the valley.

"I have to go", Lugia suddenly said. "Why?" Kirlia asked. "As I said, you made me realize my mistakes", Lugia explained. "And now I´ m going to correct them". "What are you going to do?", Charizard asked. "I… will fight Giratina", Lugia said with a determined look on his face.

**Author´ s notes: With this, I´ ll end the chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. **

**The next chapter will be named: Lugia VS. Giratina**

**So look forward to that!**


	16. Lugia VS Giratina

**Author****´ s notes: I´ m back with a new chapter of my story. Enjoy it and review if you want to.**

**Be warned as there will be some minor violence here.**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 16: Lugia VS Giratina**

"You want to do what?", Ninetails asked shocked about Lugia´ s statement. "I will fight Giratina", Lugia repeated. "There´ s nobody, who can stop me". Lugia spread his wings and was about to take off, when Charizard said: "Good luck". "Thank you", Lugia smiled at him. "I promise that I will be back. Giratina lives in a castle not too far from here. However, this castle is located in a dimensional gap between this dimension and the distortion world". "What´ s the distortion world?", Ninetails asked. "It´ s the world Giratina was banished into", Lugia explained. "He has been there for a long time. However, he may manage to break the seal and get into this world again. And in order to do that he built his castle into this dimensional gap". "How are you supposed to get there?", Charizard asked. "Giratina has given all of his minions a special key with which we can open the portal to the dimensional gap. You three stay here until I return. Don´ t follow me, okay?". The three nodded. Lugia took off.

"Do you think he´ ll be alright?", Ninetails asked, slightly leaning on Charizard´ s side. Charizard nodded. "He´ s one of the legendary Pokémon", Charizard said. "He won´ t go down easily. I have faith in him". Ninetails stared in the direction Lugia was flying.

Lugia arrived at a dark valley, which was completely covered in rocks. No tree was here.

"What?", he asked surprised, as he saw Giratina´ s castle in front of him. "So Giratina made it to this world, eh?", Lugia thought. "I have to stop him". Lugia flew through the gateway into the castle, which was pitch-black in colour. Several evil Pokémon were standing, walking or flying around the castle.

Lugia entered a room, where Groudon and Moltres were. "So you´ re back", Groudon greeted. Lugia stared at him. "Did you crush Charizard and his friends?", Moltres asked. "Hmph, as if I could possibly do that", Lugia replied which left Moltres and Groudon dumbfound. "What?", they both asked.

"Charizard and his friends showed me something", Lugia started to explain. "What Giratina´ s trying to accomplish is wrong. Our task as legendary Pokémon is to watch over and protect this world, not to destroy it". Moltres and Groudon exchanged confused looks. "What makes you say that?", Groudon asked. "You´ re the most loyal one out of us three and yet you are betraying Giratina?". Lugia nodded. "Why?", Moltres asked, "why did you do this?". "What we are doing is wrong", Lugia said, "Giratina´ s just using us. Don´ t you realize it?".

"I´ ll go with you", Groudon finally decided, "I joined forces with Giratina, because he promised to give me the power I need to defeat Kyogre once and for all. But he didn´ t give me the power. I was betrayed as well".

"What about you, Moltres?", Lugia asked. "Will you join us?". Moltres thought about it for a second then he nodded. "As if I had another choice", the legendary fire bird added.

"Then it´ s decided", Lugia said, as the trio made its way towards their master´ s room. They crushed every Pokémon on their way.

"Chikorita", Lugia thought to himself. "I´ ve realized my mistakes. And now, I´ ll correct them".

The three burst through a door. Giratina was standing there. He was in his Altered Form now, possessing six legs and wings with three very sharp thorns on each of them.

"I awaited your arrival", Giratina said. "Lugia, Groudon and Moltres". "You… awaited us?", Groudon asked. "Yes, I did", Giratina answered, "I overheard your little conversation. So you three are willing to fight me, because what I do is wrong? Did that Charizard change your brains?" "Charizard showed us the true meaning of friendship", Lugia said. "Giratina. I will take you on on my own!". "Oho, so you are willing to fight me one on one?", Giratina asked. "How brave you are". He was speaking pure sarcasm. He then used a Hyper Beam and blasted open a wall, so he and Lugia could have an aerial battle.

"Let us help you", Groudon said. Lugia shook his head. "You and Moltres can take on those guys", he pointed towards the approaching army of Giratina. "Well, this is fun", Groudon said.

Lugia´ s and Giratina´ s battle begun. Lugia started out with a Hydro Pump, which was blocked by Giratina´ s Hyper Beam. Lugia tried to hit Giratina with his wings, but the dragon disappeared, reappeared behind Lugia and attacked him with his thorns. Lugia was thrown back a bit. "That´ s Giratina´ s Shadow Force", Lugia thought. "I have to be careful". He prepared to use his Aero Blast attack and fired it. Giratina was hit and smashed into one of the castle walls. He quickly regained control of himself and used a Shadow Ball on Lugia, who blocked it with Protect. Giratina appeared behind Lugia again then he reshaped one of his wings to resemble a hand with the red thorns being the claws. After that, he used a Shadow Claw on Lugia, who took massive damage.

"This is where everything ends for you", Giratina said and extended the thorns. Now they resembled spears. He aimed one directly at Lugia´ s heart and extended it into that direction. The extension was extremely fast, so Lugia could barely dodge it. But his left wing was impaled by the spear. Lugia roared in pain.

"One more time", Giratina said and extended all of his thorns into spears and aimed them at Lugia. Lugia had no way of dodging, since his wing was injured. But Lugia wasn´ t hit by the attack.

"Groudon", he yelled. Groudon had positioned himself in front of Lugia and took the full blast of the attack. "Heh, Lugia, I thought it would come to this", Groudon said, smirking. "I… couldn´ t beat Kyogre… I couldn´ t protect this world… everything will be destroyed". Giratina took his spears out of Groudon´ s body. The land rex collapsed to the ground.

"You´ re next", Giratina said to Moltres and impaled him with the spears. Moltres collapsed immediately and fell to the ground like a brick.

"Why you", Lugia yelled. He attacked Giratina with the full force of his Aero Blast. Giratina formed and energy ball between his wings and fired it as a beam of black energy.

The two attacks clashed and caused a massive explosion.

"_Lugia", Chikorita approached the legendary Pokémon with a smile on her face. "What is it, Chikorita?", Lugia asked. "I wanted to thank you for being there for me", Chikorita said. "Don´ t worry", Lugia replied. "I will protect you from harm". "Can you protect this world as well?", Chikorita pleaded, tone serious. "I will protect this world with my life", Lugia said._

"Chikorita". Lugia slowly stood up. A few meters away Giratina stood, with his thorns ready to extend at Lugia.

"Chikorita… I won´ t break my promise", Lugia thought, "I will protect this world at all costs". The thorns extended and impaled his body.

Lugia roared in pain. "Hmph", Giratina said, "I missed critical spots by mere inches. Lucky one". He pulled his thorns back. "I´ ll let you live", Giratina said. "It´ s because you were the most loyal minion I had. But next time, I won´ t show mercy".

Lugia got up, heavily injured. He barely managed to move his wings. "I have to tell… Charizard and the others", he said to himself and took off. Every time he flapped his wings, stinging pain went through his body. "It´ s like Giratina absorbed my life energy", Lugia thought.

"There he is!" Ninetails shouted. "Lugia", Charizard said as the silvery legend landed in front of them. "I didn´ t stand a chance against Giratina", Lugia explained. "Groudon and Moltres are… dead. Both of them. Giratina can drain your life… energy…" Lugia collapsed.

"Oh no", Ninetails said shocked, "we have to give him emergency treatment right away". "You´ re right", Charizard said.

---

Giratina gathered his leftover minions. "My friends", he said, "the time has arrived to destroy this world. We will begin in Treasure Town. Come with me!".

Giratina and his entire army made their way towards Treasure Town.

**Author´ s notes: That was this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**The next chapter: Ninetails´ true feelings  
**


	17. The rise of time and space

**Author´ s notes: 17 chapters and still only ****20 reviews... seems like my story isn´ t as great as I thought it would be... Oh well... at that, thanks to those of you, who reviewed this story. You´ re awesome, guys! **

**Then, let´ s get started!**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 17: The rise of time and space**

Lugia opened his eyes. Charizard, Ninetails and Kirlia were looking at him with a worried expression on their faces.

"He´ s awake", Ninetails sighed in relief. "Goodness, finally!", Charizard said. Kirlia was just smiling.

"Giratina´ s planning an attack on Treasure Town", Lugia said. "If that´ s the case, we´ ve got to hurry!", Charizard yelled. "To Treasure Town!".

He and Lugia took off. Ninetails was sitting on Charizard´ s back, while Kirlia was sitting on Lugia´ s. The two Pokémon flew as fast as they could towards Treasure Town.

---

"Faster", Palkia said to Dialga, as the two flew through an alternate dimension. "We have to reach Treasure Town, before Giratina can do so". "I know", Dialga said. "We must hurry. I gathered some Pokémon, that aren´ t in Giratina´ s army yet".

"Great", Palkia said. Dialga nodded. "Where´ s the portal to their dimension?", Dialga asked. "It has to be somewhere around here", Palkia explained.

---

Meanwhile, Lugia and Charizard landed in the middle of Treasure Town.

Ninetails ran over to the guild to warn the Pokémon there from the approaching danger and Charizard was informing the Pokémon in Treasure Town. Lugia was healed by the town´ s doctor, a Chansey.

"Everyone ready to fight?", Charizard asked the Pokémon, who gathered in the centre of Treasure Town. "Yeah!", everyone cheered. "Giratina is very powerful", Lugia explained. "It won´ t be easy". "But with the help of everyone, we can beat them", Ninetails said and everyone agreed.

"Look!", Charizard suddenly said. He pointed towards the sea, where a huge amount of Pokémon appeared. Some of them were flying, others were swimming and other others were coming over the land. "Wow", Ninetails stared at the Pokémon is disbelief.

A very powerful looking Garchomp approached Charizard. "We´ re here to help you fight off Giratina´ s army", he said. "Dialga, the deity of time sent us here". "Amazing", Charizard said. "Then let´ s work together".

The huge army consisted of hundreds of different kinds of Pokémon. (A/N: I won´ t bother explaining what they look like. If you are interested, check Bulbapedia) There were Venusaurs, Blastoises, Salamences, Dragonites, Garchomps, Aerodactyls, Gyarados´, Typhlosions, Alakazams, Tyranitars, Metagross´, Pidgeots, Steelix´, Arcanines, Luxrays, Lucarios, Starmies, Porygon-Zs, Magnezones, Probopass´, to sum it up, pretty much every final evolution stage, except Empoleon, Torterra and Infernape (A/N: In case you´ re wondering: I HATE them!).

"With this amount of Pokémon, we can´ t loose", Charizard said. Ninetails nodded.

"Let´ s get prepared, guys!", a powerful green snake-like dragon, who appeared from the skies said.

"YOU?", Lugia asked in disbelief. "If it isn´ t Lugia", the green dragon said surprised. "Long time no see". "Where do you come from?", Lugia asked. "Well, I just happened to meet Dialga", the green dragon said, "he approached me and said: "Rayquaza, you in the function of being the king of the Pokémon world must help us. Giratina´ s going to take over this world and he´ s now heading for Treasure Town. Please send the most powerful Pokémon of yours to this place". Well, and I, being Dialga´ s friend, can´ t just ignore that. So here I am, with the most powerful Pokémon in my private army". "Rayquaza, you´ re awesome", Lugia said. "Heh, just don´ t let your guard down, right?". Rayquaza gave Lugia a thumbs up and flew towards his own army.

"That´ s super awesome", Ninetails said. "With this, we´ re prepared". Charizard nodded.

Later that night.

Charizard and Ninetails were sleeping inside Sharpedo rock, where Ninetails´ old home was.

Ninetails woke up and sat on the edge of her home. She stared at the moon with tears in her eyes. "I hope, we can win this", she thought and started to cry. There was something that caused her big pain.

Charizard woke up a little while later, due to Ninetails´ sobs.

"What´ s wrong?", he asked, sitting down next to her. Ninetails tried to hide her face from Charizard, so he couldn´ t see her crying, but he saw it anyway.

"Look, if you don´ t want to participate in this battle, it´ s okay", Charizard said.

"It´ s not me who I´ m worried about", Ninetails said with a sad tone in her voice.

"Then who?".

"It´ s you", Ninetails replied.

"Me?".

"Yes".

"But why?".

"I am afraid of what could happen to you, if you face Giratina. I don´ t want to see you dying".

"Why are you so concerned about me all the time?".

"Don´ t you already know that?".

"No".

"You are the best friend I had in my entire life, Charizard. Loosing you would be like… like loosing everything important to me".

Charizard smiled at her. "And also…", Ninetails continued. "There´ s something I really want to tell you since the day we defeated Onix". "And that would be?", Charizard asked.

"How can I say that?", Ninetails thought to herself. "Just how can I tell?".

"What is it?", Charizard got a little impatient. "Charizard", Ninetails said, turning to him. "I... I… really… really…".

"Really what?", Charizard stared at Ninetails, somewhat confused by her weird behaviour. "I´ m sorry", she suddenly said. "I can´ t tell you now. I just can´ t". "It´ s okay", Charizard said, "just tell me, when you´ re ready to do so". "Thank you", Ninetails said. "For everything", she added. "Why?", Charizard asked. "You are always… there for me", Ninetails said, slightly blushing, "I don´ t know where I was right now without you. You… gave me the courage I wanted to have. And you always were there to save me from my sorrow. I want to thank you for all that". "Not a problem", Charizard was even more confused now. Suddenly, he felt Ninetails´ lips on his cheeks and right after that, his scales started to heat up. "What did you do that for?", Charizard asked, blushing as well. "I was showing my gratitude", Ninetails said, giggling at him. "You could have told me that", Charizard said, not willing to look at Ninetails.

The next morning…

"Everyone, get up, quickly!", Lugia shouted and fired an Aero Blast at the incoming army of Giratina.

"They´ re here", Charizard said. Ninetails looked at him with a worried expression on her face. Charizard flew out of Ninetails´ home to aid the other Pokémon. It was a fierce battle and Rayquaza´ s army soon saw itself outnumbered.

And that was, when Giratina appeared.

"So you are the main problem, huh?", Rayquaza asked. "Rayquaza… it´ s been a long time", Giratina smirked and fired a Shadow Ball at Rayquaza, which was blocked by Lugia´ s wings. "So you´ re healed again?", Giratina asked, "interesting". He used his Shadow Claw. Both Rayquaza and Lugia dodged the attacks.

The battle continued and Lugia, Rayquaza, Charizard, Ninetails and the others seemed to loose. Charizard was helping Rayquaza and Lugia, but he didn´ t really have a chance against Giratina.

The three were lying on the ground, heavily breathing. Ninetails was by Charizard´ s side.

"We can´ t win", Charizard said, "if this keeps up, we can´ t win". "Charizard, please don´ t overdo it", Ninetails pleaded, as Charizard stood up. "Don´ t worry about me", Charizard said. "I won´ t loose!". "Oh, Charizard…", Ninetails started to cry again.

Giratina was about to deliver the finishing blow as suddenly a giant flying pink blade of energy and dark blue to black beam of huge intensity hit the Distortion world ruler.

"Behold the power of time and space!", Dialga and Palkia announced. "It´ s them!", Rayquaza said. "Now we can win!", Lugia cheered.

Dialga and Palkia roared.

**Author´ s notes: And that sums up this chapter. I will make the fighting scenes longer next time. For now, I´ ll leave it with this. I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Next chapter: The final battle - Part 1 -**


	18. The final battle

**Author´ s notes: This is an announcement for everyone reading this story! ****This chapter is the last one. That means this chapter will mark an end for this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter the way I did while writing it and I also hope I´ ll see you again in my next story**

**Distortion world strikes back Chapter 18: The final battle**

"With Dialga and Palkia by our side, I just know we won´ t loose", Ninetails announced.

Dialga and Palkia roared and attacked Giratina with their attacks, but the ghost dragon vanished and used his Shadow Force to attack the duo.

"Take this", Charizard yelled and used Blast Burn on Giratina, which actually did some damage.

"Blast Burn is working", Rayquaza said, surprised. "Now it´ s my turn!". He used a Dragon Pulse on Giratina, which did damage as well. Lugia joined with her Aero Blast and Dialga and Palkia used their special attacks to combine them with Lugia´ s. Ninetails finished the combo move with her own Flamethrower and Charizard used Blast Burn again.

Giratina was smashed into the ground.

"WE DID IT!!!", everyone cheered. "Not quite", Giratina roared and stood up. "You guys… did you really think you can beat me with this level of attacks? Pathetic".

"What?", Palkia asked, shocked. "He didn´ t take any damage". "What on earth happened to him?", Dialga asked with disbelief. "He seems to get stronger every minute", Lugia said. "Seems like it", Rayquaza agreed and nodded.

"It can´ t be", Charizard said. "I won´ t accept this!!!". Suddenly, a bright light started to surround him, forming a giant dragon of light.

"What is he doing?", Ninetails asked. "I don´ t know", Dialga said. "But I do", Rayquaza said. "It´ s the legendary dragon attack: Dragon Impulse!". "Dragon Impulse?", Ninetails repeated with a questioning look on her face. "Dragon Impulse is a double-edged sword", Rayquaza explained. "On one hand, it deals major damage to every opponent it hits, on the other hand, it fatally injures the user as well. Since it is so powerful, it was called the forbidden ultimate attack". "Why is that?", Ninetails asked, worrying about Charizard.

"Dragon Impulse directly attacks the life energy", Rayquaza explained. "Of both the user and the one it hits. It is a super fast attack, no one´ s ever been able to dodge it. It´ s considered the most powerful attack of them all". "But why is it called "the forbidden ultimate attack"?", Ninetails asked. "As I explained before, the attack directly drains your life energy", Rayquaza said. "If you use it too often or for too long, you´ ll die. This is the reason, why we dragon-types are so rare. Dragon Impulse has caused our type to be nearly extinct. This is why the attack was forbidden among the dragon-types. I had no idea this human Charizard would ever be able to use it".

"Will Charizard die?", Ninetails asked. Rayquaza hesitated a bit, but then he nodded. Tears welled up in Ninetail´ s eyes. "That can´ t be happening", she cried. "Charizard, stop it!".

Charizard ignored her and roared. The light got brighter and brighter, transforming more and more into the shape of a giant dragon. With this, Charizard smashed himself right into Giratina´ s body. The ghost dragon roared in pain, but he withstood the attack. Charizard made another assault on him, but Giratina´ s defenses increased and the attack did less and less damage.

"I´ m not done", Charizard said and flew into Giratina again. "Not yet!".

"At this rate, his body won´ t survive this", Rayquaza said. "There´ s another dragon Pokémon going down by the consequences of Dragon Impulse".

"Charizard stop!!!", Ninetails called out to him. "Please stop it! Charizard! I beg you!!!".

"He isn´ t listening", Dialga said. "He´ s trying to protect us no matter what". "Charizard, stoooopp!!!!", Ninetails broke out in tears. She couldn´ t take it anymore.

"_Where am I? Where is this place? Huh? I hear a voice… A strong and loud voice…"._

"_Little boy. Welcome to the world of Pokémon". "You mean the real thing?". "Yes, I did". "But why did you do this?". "Little boy, this world is in great danger". "What danger?". "The legendary Pokémon Giratina, whom I banished into the distortion world is plotting his revenge on our world. You must stop him". "I´ m just a pathetic, weak human kid. How could I possibly defeat a legendary Pokémon?". "I will entrust you with some of my powers". "Some of your powers?". "Yes. You will fight for the sake of this world. Please protect it". "Okay, I will"._

"I promised I would protect this world", Charizard thought. "I can´ t step back now. I will… protect this world, my friends and… you, Ninetails". Charizard let out another roar and smashed himself against Giratina again. This time, the attack did nothing. Charizard was nearly unconscious.

"Dragon Impulse isn´ t working", Rayquaza was shocked to see this.

"Charizard", Ninetails looked at her partner, still crying. "You are trying to protect us. And what did I do? Sitting by and watching you putting yourself in danger. And during all this time, I couldn´ t tell you". "I LOVE YOU, CHARIZARD!!!", she called out to him. Charizard´ s eyes snapped open. He roared again and the light dragon surrounding him got even bigger.

"Dragon Impulse, it´ s…", Rayquaza was speechless at what he saw before him. "It´ s healing him", Palkia said. "Is it because he learned to control the attack?", Lugia asked, looking at Rayquaza with curiosity in her eyes. Rayquaza shook his head. "No, nobody is able to control the Dragon Impulse", he replied. "However… his desire to protect this world is so strong, that he may have overcome the side effects of Dragon Impulse and turned them into the opposite. It is said, that a dragon with a strong heart and a strong desire to protect the ones it loves will be gifted with the real powers of the dragon type. Maybe Ninetails was the key to this". "How?", Dialga asked. "Ninetails just said, she loves Charizard", Rayquaza replied. "Maybe it was her strong feeling for him that enabled Charizard to awaken the real power of the dragon type".

"Real power of the dragon type?", Giratina yelled. "Don´ t make me laugh". He clashed with Charizard and a huge explosion was the outcome. The explosion turned everything it hit into a wasteland.

The light went away.

"Look, Giratina´ s vanishing", Lugia said, pointing to the ghost-dragon, who vanished completely.

"To be defeated by a human", were his last words.

Everything fell silent for a moment.

"We… we really did it", Ninetails said happily. "We… won against Giratina". "The world is in peace again", Lugia said.

"Where´ s Charizard?", Ninetails suddenly asked and searched for her partner.

"Charizard! Where are you?".

She found him lying between some rocks, completely not moving.

"Charizard", Ninetails said, "Charizard, wake up". Charizard let out a tired groan and he stood up. "What happened?", he asked, tired. "You defeated Giratina", Ninetails said and hugged him. "You´ re awesome, Charizard". "It was all… thanks to you, Ninetails", Charizard said. "I only survived because of the power from strong feelings you gave me". Ninetails smiled at him.

Dialga, Palkia, Rayquaza, Lugia and all the other Pokémon came over to see what was going on.

"You made it", a strong and calm voice said and from the sky a white Qillin-like Pokémon appeared. It had golden hooves and a golden wheel-like object around his body. The green and red eyes had a warming light.

"Who are you?", Charizard asked. "I am the one, who called you here", the Pokémon said. "My name is Arceus. I am the creator of this world".

"Master Arceus…", the legendary Pokémon said in awe. "Why haven´ t you helped us?", Ninetails asked. "If you are the creator of everything, then why didn´ t you help us fighting against Giratina". "It´ s because I was sealed away", Arceus explained. "Giratina put a seal on me, while I wasn´ t paying attention. This is why I couldn´ t help you all. And that is also the reason, why I called this human here". "You mean Charizard?", Ninetails asked. Arceus nodded. "Charizard was gifted with some of my power to be able to evolve and gain more and more powerful attacks", Arceus explained. "I was also the one, who selected you to be his partner, Ninetails". "What?", Ninetails couldn´ t believe what she was hearing. "Yes, it was no coincidence that you went to that very beach and found that very Charmander lying there", Arceus answered with a calm tone. "Your meeting was fated".

"Why did you select her to be my partner?", Charizard asked.

"Because your and Ninetails´ hearts were one", Arceus replied. "That would mean what?", Charizard asked. "Your heart was one same wavelength as Ninetails´", Arceus replied. "I chose you, Ninetails, because you were the only one who could help Charizard with awakening his real powers. Remember the times he evolved or got stronger. He always evolved because of your feelings for him, right?". Ninetails thought about it for a moment. Then she nodded.

"You fell in love with him right from the beginning of your journey together", Arceus said. "It was love at first sight, to say the least. And this also was fated". "So… my love for him… is… fated?", Ninetails asked. Arceus nodded.

"The most important thing is, that our world is safe again", Rayquaza said. "Yes", Arceus agreed. "And that is why you, Charizard, have to return to your own world. I will give your memories back as soon as you reach there". "So you also took my memories?", Charizard asked. "Were you the one who made me forget who I was as a human?". "Yes, it was my doing, but you chose it this way", Arceus said. "You wanted to fight with a pure heart, so you wanted to leave all your memories of your life as a human behind". "I chose it this way", Charizard repeated.

"However", Arceus said. "The dimensional gate to the human world will close soon, so you don´ t have much time left". "I want at least say goodbye to my friends", Charizard said. Arceus nodded again.

At the beach in the sunset…

"You… really have to go, right?", Ninetails asked Charizard with tears in her eyes. "Apparently yes", Charizard replied. He was sad as well.

"I don´ t want you to leave", Ninetails said and hugged him. "Please stay with me". "I´ d love to stay with you, but it isn´ t possible", Charizard replied. "I´ m sorry". He put his arm on her shoulder.

"I will miss you", Ninetails said. "I will miss you too", Charizard said. "I promise, that I will never forget our adventures together. I will never forget the fun we had together. Never in my life". "I won´ t forget you as well", Ninetails said. "You changed my life completely. I was a coward and not very strong and now…". "You became strong, brave and beautiful", Charizard said. She smiled at him. "Thank you". "No problem".

"Charizard", Arceus said, approaching him. "It is time. You have to go". He led the way towards a dimensional gate.

"It´ s time to say goodbye", Charizard said. "Will we ever be able to meet again?", Ninetails asked him. "Yes, I´ m sure of it", Charizard assured her and gave her a thumbs up.

"Farewell, Charizard", Ninetails started crying. "Farewell, Ninetails", Charizard said and walked through the gate, which closed right behind him.

"Maybe you two will be able to meet again", Arceus thought, as he returned to the hall of origin, his home.

**Author´ s notes: This was my story "Distortion World Strikes Back". Maybe I´ m going to write a sequel to this. I will first concentrate on my Truth or Dare story and if I get the ideas for another story, I´ ll be sure to post it. Thanks to all of you (whether you reviewed or not) who read this story. Very special thanks go to Sora532, because he was the one who encouraged me to finish this. **

**I hope you guys read and review my Truth or Dare story. Hope you enjoyed this one. Look forward for the next one. Peace out.**

**- Shining4Charizard**


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